


Ms. Infamous

by bigsadenergy



Series: Devil Eyes [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Amnesia, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Banter, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon-Typical Violence, Depression, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mutual Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recreational Drug Use, Self-Harm, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:28:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26567329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigsadenergy/pseuds/bigsadenergy
Summary: Adventures of Courier Six and Craig Boone.(This is being rewritten and will be posted separately from this series)
Relationships: Craig Boone/Courier (Fallout), Craig Boone/Female Courier
Series: Devil Eyes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932277
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Uhh, I'm a wee bit obsessed with New Vegas at the moment, so this is probably going to get 2 or 3 consistent updates, then it'll be my usual slow ass posting. Hopefully, y'all enjoy it anyway.

When she stepped into the head of the dinosaur, Boone assumed she was lost. Most people who went up there and found him were. Maybe she had been, but unlike the rest, she didn’t apologize profusely and hurry out when he told them to scram. Instead, she just stood there with a smirk firmly planted on her narrow lips.

At first, he was struck by the blonde of her hair. It was platinum, a color he rarely saw. It almost exactly matched the color of Carla’s hair and the subtle reminder of what he lost made him angry. 

The rest of her was so strikingly not like Carla that his anger felt unjustified. Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun that kept it out of her face. A bandana, which must’ve been white at some point but was dirtied with dust and the rusted color of faded blood, kept stray hairs from escaping into her eyes. The leather armor under her beat-up leather duster was well used, so she’d either gotten lots of use out of it or bought it from someone else who had. The duster itself was almost comically large on her. It made her look bigger, but if you really looked, she wasn’t much more than a twig. Boone had a difficult time imagining her surviving in the wasteland.

The most striking thing about her was the mad twinkle in her pretty blue eyes. Carla had pretty blue eyes, just like this stranger. They were round and large. Carla had a charming twinkle in her eyes. This stranger looked a little addled. 

A surgical scar peaked out from her hairline at the side of her head. It looked pretty fresh. Boone found himself wondering what sort of surgery she’d needed. She was smoking a cigarette and clearly thoroughly enjoying it. 

Boone didn’t know what had possessed him to ask her the favor he asked her. She’d agreed and left and he realized he hadn’t even asked for her name. She hadn’t really asked questions either like she understood exactly why he’d want to do a thing like this. He figured that in another life, another time, they could have been friends. But once he had the person responsible for what happened to his wife, he didn’t really intend to live very much longer.

The sun set and Boone watched the road as always. Things were quiet today. Still, with rumors of the legion drawing closer, he kept a watchful eye, unwilling to take any chances.

Just after midnight, the strange appeared in the designated spot, his beret on her head, just as agreed. Jeannie May Crawford was with her. Boone was a little surprised that the stranger had made good on her word and that the apparent culprit was Jeannie May. He’d always found the woman annoying, but he’d never have guessed her to be the sort of person to sell a woman into slavery.

He had to trust the stranger though. He’d gone this far, no turning back. He lined up his shot, took a breath in, let it out, pulled the trigger. 

Jeannie May’s head exploded and the stranger didn’t even jump. He watched her light a cigarette and glance up at the dinosaur head, completely unphased. 

A few minutes later, she appeared behind him. He hadn’t heard her come up the stairs even though he’d been listening for her. He’d been out of the field a while, maybe his senses were getting rusty.

“How’d you know it was her?” He asked, a piece of him afraid of the answer. The madness in this stranger's eyes made him a little nervous.

She took a drag of her cigarette before she answered. “Her story didn’t add up so I broke into the safe in the hotel lobby. There was a bill of sale in there.”

Her voice was lower than one would expect from a woman her size. It had a sort of rust to it.

Boone sighed, leaning against the wall. He didn’t feel any better now that Jeannie May was dead. The stranger seemed to sense what he was thinking. Her cool expression turned sympathetic. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s never easy to lose someone you love.”

Boone shrugged her off. He hadn’t opened up to anyone yet and he certainly wasn’t going to do so with a stranger, no matter how helpful she’d been thus far.

“What will you do now?” She asked, popping out her pack of cigarettes and offering him one. 

He took it gratefully and allowed her to light it. He took a long, satisfying drag before he answered. “I’ll take the fight to Caesar and the Legion.”

She nodded thoughtfully, looking a little haunted. “If you're always that good of a shot, those fuckers got another thing coming with you after them.”

Boone actually chuckled, surprising himself. “Here,” he said, handing her his extra beret. “It’s not much of a payment, but it's my way of saying thanks.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Hey, uh, want any company on your little revenge mission?”

He raised his eyebrows, looking at her. He was kind of planning on dying in battle against the legion and he didn’t really want to take anyone down with him.

“What do you have against the legion?”

She sighed, “Nothing personal really. Just seen firsthand the sorta fuckers they are. Wouldn’t mind killing a few.”

“I guess two of us would be more effective than one,” Boone said, surprising himself, and her, once again.

She looked up again, grinning. “Really?”

He shrugged, “Why not? But uh, I never caught your name.”

“Call me Six,” she laughed.

“Six? Like the number?”

“Yeah. Short for Courier Six,” she chuckled. “I still can’t decide if it’s badass or really stupid.”

Boone shrugged again. “Six it is.”

~

Six agreed to meet him outside the motel at ten the next morning. He went home and packed the things from his room worth taking. His sleep was fitful. Apparently Six had some business in Novac, or just outside, to take care of before they were on their way. 

Boone was outside at ten. Six was not. She didn’t come down the motel stairs until nearly ten-thirty.

“Apologies,” she groaned. “I’m not a morning person and my head is killing me.”

“Hungover?” Boone raised an eyebrow, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

She shook her head. “I get these headaches sometimes. Usually, it's just a dull ache, but sometimes, like this morning, it’s so bad I can barely see. Had to find some painkillers for it.”

Boone nodded, remembering the surgical scar he’d noticed when they’d first met. He wondered if they had anything to do with each other.

Six didn’t explain where they were going or why, which was just fine by Boone. She played Radio New Vegas from her pip-boy and sang along quietly. Boone followed a few paces behind, keeping his eyes peeled for potential threats. 

If Six was paying attention to the world around her, Boone couldn’t tell. She was mostly focused on the road, occasionally checking her pip-boy to make sure they were going the right way. A few times, she got distracted by something off the side of the road and went to check it out. Mostly it was just random garbage but once it was actually a small pile of caps, half-buried in the sand which Six gleefully scooped into her pack. 

Despite the rifle and grenade launcher on her back and the revolver at her hip, she almost seemed like a curious child. It was kind of funny, actually. Boone didn’t laugh much, but she managed to get a few smirks out of him with her goofy commentary. At least she was entertaining. 

The REPCONN test site wasn’t far from Novac. Their arrival was heralded by a hoard of ghouls bearing down on them, which Six made short work of with a well-placed grenade. For a moment, Boone wondered who the hell thought it was a good idea to give her such a powerful weapon, but he didn’t have time to think about it for long before a few straggling ferals came out of the woodwork. He picked them off one by one. 

When they’d all been dealt with and Six was finished rifling through what was left of their pockets, Boone expected to keep following the road. Six, apparently, had something else in mind. 

As casually as if it were her front door, she sauntered up to the entrance.

“That place is gonna be crawling with ferals,” Boone pointed out without intonation.

She shrugged, "Well if I don’t get rid of the ghouls, Manny Vargas won’t tell me what he knows.”

Without explaining what information Manny had that she wanted, she pushed the doors open and entered. Why had she been talking to Manny? What could he possibly tell her? Six left him with so many questions and he wasn’t really a curious person.

Somehow, her speaking to Manny made him suspicious. It was paranoia, he was well aware of that. But paranoia had kept him alive for a long time. He had yet to get a good read on Six, so treating her with caution was probably smart.

He’d been right about the ferals, of course. The place was swarming with them. Neither of them had expected the nightkins, though. 

Six had just taken another horde out before they got too close with a well-placed grenade while Boone picked off the stragglers when he heard Six cry out. It was more in surprise than pain, but it still startled Boone.

He saw the tell-tale shimmer in the air. Someone was using a stealth-boy. He didn’t have time to consider who or why. Six wouldn’t have time to pull her revolver out of its holster before the attacker got in a second, likely a more lethal blow. He fired.

Six didn’t appear to know what a nightkin even was. Once it was dead, she stared at it in wonder. 

“It’s blue?” she murmured.

“Never seen one before?”

She shrugged and they moved on.

When they finally found the not-feral ghouls, Boone was already out of patience. Battles were always chaos, but Six was either the smartest or dumbest person he’d ever met, he couldn’t be sure which. She did things no person should rightly consider, things that should have gotten her killed, but she wasn’t dead and wasn’t really injured either. When the ghouls started going on about a great journey or something, Boone tuned out. Six listened, although he could see the patience wearing thin on her face. 

They went down to the basement and killed a bunch of nightkin. Six made Boone explain what they were. She’d only ever seen normal super mutants, so it wasn’t all that odd that the existence of blue ones surprised her. She must’ve been from out east somewhere. Boone had heard that there were only super mutants out east.

They headed back up to the ghouls, who seemed to have another task for her to complete. Boone wasn’t really listening, but he was picking up on Six’s impatience. 

She finished her conversation and marched straight to the exit without so much as a word towards Boone. It wasn’t until they were already outside that she spoke again. 

“Manny better have some good fucking info,” she hissed, sitting down on the steps. 

She was frustrated and Boone didn’t understand why or what to do about it. He had never been good at comforting people. 

“What did they want?”

“I dunno, they’re kinda nuts. Went on and on about journeys and beyonds and safe havens for ghouls. Evidently, if I get them a few mechanical things they’ll have everything they need to leave. Manny wants them out, so if they leave Manny’ll be satisfied. Lucky for them, I know my way around most machines.”

“Manny’s wanted them out for a while.” Boone shrugged. “What does he know that you want?”

“A guy passed through Novac not too long ago. I need dirt on him. Need to know where he’s going.”

“What guy?”

“Checkered suit? Two Great Khans with him? Seen anyone like that?”

Boone chuckled a little. It was an odd group to be sure, one he’d remember. “Nope, sorry. Manny pays more attention to comings and goings than me.”

“Figures,” she sighed. “Well, I guess we better go get what they need.”

Something in her eyes made Boone wish he knew anything that could’ve helped her. 

~

Six’s mood had turned quickly from frustrated to angry. They’d walked back to Novac, then past Novac to the Gibson scrapyard where Six argued fervently with Ms. Gibson about some part for the better part of ten minutes. Gibson wanted at least 500 caps for the part, but Boone could tell that Six didn’t have a lot of money. While her weapons were in good condition, they weren’t exactly high-quality machinery. Six stripped every corpse for caps and anything else of value like an expert prospector, but for her, it was out of necessity. She wasn’t willing to part with 500 of her hard-earned caps. 

Apparently, she wanted information on the guy in the checkered suit more than she wanted to keep her caps, though. She begrudgingly coughed up the money and muttered angrily about the part wasn’t worth that much the whole way back to Novac. 

They went straight through yet again, heading instead for Clark fields where Six pulled something explosive looking off a corpse. She tucked it in her pack with a satisfied huff and searched the poor bastard's pockets for anything else she thought would be useful. 

While she was distracted, a pack of fire geckos came over the hill. 

“Six!” Boone called out while he lined up his shot.

Her head snapped up and she reached for her revolver. Boone got two in the head, then missed his third shot. Six was sprinting at them with a ferocity that would send an intelligent creature running the other direction. Boone was fairly sure she was going to be on fire by the time they killed the remaining four. 

Six put a few shots into the head of a single one, then the other one set her sleeve on fire. Boone took it out before it could roast her alive, but she didn’t seem particularly concerned about the whole thing. Instead, she finished off one more while Boone got the last one. Then she used a grimy cloth she found on the ground to put out the fire on her sleeve, her face more angry and determined than panicked. 

They made it back to Novac just before dark. Boone was surprisingly exhausted. Six seemed more grumpy than anything else, but they had everything they needed for the ghouls and they were going to send them on their way first thing in the morning. 

Boone was about to head back into his old room, but he hesitated. It was a warzone in there. All the evidence of his less-than-stable mental health since Carla died were strewn about in the form of empty bottles, rotting food, and used up chems.

Six glanced at him, and she seemed to be able to read him right away. He wished he could read her the way she could read him. He had yet to understand her even a little.

“You can sleep on my couch,” she offered with a tone of sympathy, like when she comforted him in the Dino’s head. 

It was strange, he thought, how she could be this bat-shit crazy badass most of the time but still be capable of a kindness that was very rare in the wasteland. She didn’t really know him at all, but she offered to help him get his revenge, then she took a big chance and asked him to come with her. He didn’t understand why she’d do a thing like that. He didn’t understand why he took her up on it, either.

He followed Six up to her room. It wasn’t anything special. The bed was made, but not neatly. An empty plate sat by the sink. There were a few empty bottles around, but the dust on them suggested they’d been there before she had.

She pushed a few random pieces of junk off the couch and found a ratty blanket.

“Sorry, it’s a bit messy in here,” she said sheepishly.

Boone almost laughed. It was positively neat in comparison to his room. 

“It’s not a problem,” was all he said.

She gave him a plate of Blamco Mac n’ Cheese and ate hers while downed what remained of a bottle of whiskey. Once she was done, she started tinkering with some machine parts that were on the dining table in the corner. Boone decided to clean his rifle.

He finished his task pretty quickly. He kept his rifle pretty clean generally anyway. He watched Six for a bit. She was fixated on the gears in a telephone she’d picked up at some point. It seemed as though she was taking it apart just for the hell of it.

“So, what’s your issue with the legion?” He broke the silence, surprising them both.

She looked up, a screwdriver in her mouth. Apparently he caught her at the wrong moment. 

She took the screwdriver out of her mouth and set all her parts on the table in front of her, taking a breath. “I saw what they did to Nipton. I’ll never fucking forget what I saw there.”

“Nipton?” Boone knew they’d taken Nelson, but he had only heard that Nipton had gone dark. “They’re that far west?”

Six nodded. “A ranger at the Mojave outpost asked me to check it out. She had seen smoke coming from that direction and she thought maybe the Powder Gangers had done something to it. Legion bastards were still there when I stumbled upon the scene. Had everyone strung up on these crosses, set the rest of the town on fire. Still don’t really understand why they didn’t kill me too.”

“Shit,” Boone muttered, the rage filling him. “If they’re this far east…” he trailed off.

“Yeah, doesn’t bode well. I considered enlisting after that, but there’ll be time for that later. I still need to catch up with the guy in the checkered suit before he gets too far away. Once he’s dealt with, I can go my own way.”

“What do you want with him, anyway?”

Six’s eyes turned dark and she looked away. She didn’t say anything, but Boone could tell it was something painful for her to talk about, and it was fresh. A fresh wound. Whatever he did, it happened recently.

Boone nodded his understanding, and Six relaxed a little. He almost felt bad for the fella in the checkered suit. Whatever he’d done, Six was furious and Boone wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Six’s anger. He’d already seen her in a fight. She was as lethal as she was crazy and her sense of self preservation was lacking.

~

Boone didn’t sleep well, and neither did Six, judging by the second empty bottle of whiskey next to her bed when they got up that morning. 

They were on their way to REPCONN before the sun had even completely risen. 

Six seemed to be in a bad mood, and when Boone gave her a raised eyebrow look that was his impersonal way of asking if she was alright. She gestured to her head, and Boone remembered her mentioning something about headaches. So she was having a bad one, then.

The ghouls gratefully accepted the parts they needed and Six, with her surprisingly in-depth understanding of machines, helped them install the parts into three rockets. 

“Those aren’t going to fly,” Boone muttered to Six. “They’re gonna die.”

Six shrugged, “Either way, they’ll be outta here for Manny. Besides, there doesn’t seem to be much use in trying to talk them out of it.

Boone followed Six up to the Launch site overlook once everything was squared away. Some stupid heroic sounding music was playing through the speakers on repeat and Boone wanted to shoot the speakers but he had a feeling Six wouldn’t like that.

She pressed the launch button and they listened to the countdown and watched the rockets prep. To his surprise, they didn’t immediately crash when they took off. They didn’t explode either. The pair stared at them until they were out of sight, then were silent for a long moment.

Six burst into laughter, sitting down on the cold concrete with her back against the wall. Boone looked at her like she was crazy, which, to be fair, she kind of was. Despite himself, he couldn’t hold back his own smirk.

“Fucking ghoul cultists going to space,” Six chuckled, lighting a cigarette and offering him one.

Boone took it and let her light it. “Ya know, Carla used to say these things would kill me,” he said, realizing it was the first time he’d really spoken Carla’s name outside of his quest for revenge. It filled him with a sadness and fury that was almost overwhelming.

Six, seemingly unaware of his internal battle, shrugged. “Kinda life I lead, if I live long enough for these to kill me, well, I call that a win.”

Boone smiled a little. “Fair enough.”


	2. Chapter 2

“2,000 fucking caps,” Six muttered furiously, although Boone couldn’t tell if she was talking to him or her beer.

They were sitting at a table in the Atomic Wrangler in Freeside with a Doctor called Arcade Gannon, who Six had somehow wrangled into joining their little group.

It had been three long, eventful days since the ghoul cultists at REPCONN. They’d gotten back to Novac and Manny had told Six that her checkered suit buddy was called Benny and that he was heading towards Boulder City with two Great Khans that he had known from his pre-NCR days. Manny had given Boone a look when he realized that he was traveling with the Courier now, but said nothing.

Boulder City had been a near disaster. An NCR soldier there said he'd tell them everything he knew about this Benny character if they helped him deal with a hostage situation involving Great Khan’s and some NCR troops. This pissed Six off, but she agreed. They snuck in and freed the hostages and, before the Khan’s even knew what hit them, attacked from the inside. It went surprisingly well, except that Six wasn’t terribly good at judging the distance between herself and the target she was aiming at with her grenade launcher. She nearly blew herself up twice and nearly killed Boone once.

They found out Benny was heading to the Tops on the Strip in New Vegas. Apparently, he was the owner, and he’d hired the Great Khan’s specifically for a job involving a courier. Boone could only assume that was Six, but she had refused to elaborate.

Once they reached Freeside, Boone insisted on taking her directly to the Followers of the Apocalypse at Mormon Fort because she’d managed to get herself shot in the arm by some Fiends on their way in. She wanted to get on the Strip immediately, but Boone convinced her by reminding her she’d probably need a good shooting arm to deal with this Benny character. Her reaction, which was to go begrudgingly into the fort with only minor complaining, solidified in Boone’s mind that she wanted Benny dead.

It was at the Mormon Fort that she’d run into Arcade. Boone didn’t know what she said to him, but he decided to come with them on whatever crazy adventure’s they were having.

“A courier, a grumpy soldier, and a somewhat useless doctor. We should have an act at the Tops,” he’d said, which actually earned a chuckle from Boone.

When the securitron at the gate said they needed a credit check to get in, one which they couldn’t meet, even with all their combined caps, Six almost went ballistic. By the time Arcade and Boone managed to coral her into a seat at the Wrangler, she was shaking with so much pent up rage. Boone felt a small amount of pity for the Benny guy once again. Before long, she’d release all that rage on him. He probably deserved it, but still.

Boone had ordered them some beers and some food. Arcade had suggested stronger liquor for Six, probably hoping that it would calm her down a little, but Boone had seen how quickly she should put away a bottle of whiskey and decided that maybe that wasn’t the best choice right now.

“There’s no shortage of people around here looking for someone to do their dirty work,” Arcade said, almost mournfully. “Tough girl like you? You’ll have 2,000 in no time at all.”

Boone shrugged, “At least if Benny tries to leave, he’ll have to go past us first.”

Boone’s remark seemed to reassure Six more than anything Arcade said. 

Arcade made small talk with Six for a bit, which seemed to distract her from her worries. Then, when everyone had finished their food and their first beer, he said he’d sleep at Mormon Fort tonight and meet them back here first thing in the morning. 

Boone rented them a room (it was cheaper to only rent one and the beds were big enough to share without it being weird) and they headed up. Six pulled a bottle of whiskey from her pack, filling up a glass and offering him one. He took it and they drank in silence for a bit.

Six looked less angry than before. Now, she mostly looked like she was thinking very hard about something. At one point, she put her drink down and pressed her palms to her temples, screwing her eyes shut.

“Six?” Boone asked, feeling a little disconcerted.

“Beth,” she said as if that covered everything. She relaxed when she said it as if all that effort had gone into that one word.

“Beth?”

She sighed, “It’s my name, I think. My real name.”

“You think?”

“I couldn’t remember it until now,” she finished off her cup and poured herself another. “Been trying to remember for over a week but I just couldn’t.”

Boone was a little alarmed. How screwed up was her noggin that she couldn’t remember her own name for over a week?

As if she sensed his discomfort, she continued. “That’s why I’m following Benny. He…” she looked away for a second and Boone realized she was finally going to tell him what Benny had done to her. “He shot me… twice… in the head.”

“He… what?” If that was true, she should be dead. She should be very dead.

“Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, I survived. I survived, but not with my memory intact, apparently. Also, now I get headaches, bad ones. I don’t know if I got them before, but the doc who fixed me up thought it was just a by-product of having a couple of 9mm bullets rattling around in my skull for a bit.”

Boone finished his drink. “Shit.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, shit.”

“Why’d he do it?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out. He stole the package I’d been carrying. I was supposed to bring it here, to Vegas, but all I know is it was some kind of fancy poker chip. Don’t really know why it was worth killing over. Hopefully, Benny’ll have some answers.”

Boone shook his head, “I have a feeling he won’t give them up freely.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll do whatever it takes. Hopefully, he’s got some idea of who I am, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“You don’t remember anything?”

She shrugged, “Remember my name now, I think. There’s bits and pieces, images, places I’ve seen, faces whose names I can’t remember, names with no face to attach it to. Not enough to string together a clear picture of my old life. I was a courier, I know that much. Based on these callouses, I worked on a farm at some point,” she was looking at her hands.

“You’re good with machines,” Boone offered.

“Yeah, that one just kinda came back to me when I was looking at some old robot back in Primm. That’s why I’ve been dissecting things. I know how they work, I just have to relearn the specifics. It’s the same with terminals. I hacked into one, and it was like I’d never forgotten. I just knew how to do it.”

“They’ll come back,” Boone tried to reassure her. He’d seen plenty of head trauma during his time at the NCR. He’d seen guys lose all their memories and he’d seen them gain a lot of them back. He’d never seen what surviving two bullets to the skull would do, though. “Just give it time.”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. Doc said they might, but they might not. He said familiarity might trigger some memories to surface. Smell, apparently, is especially powerful. But there’s no way of knowing. The stuff I do remember, well, it doesn’t feel like it happened to me. Like I’m watching Beth’s life, but not my own.”

Boone looked at her, and he decided she didn’t look like a Beth at all. He could see how maybe once she had, with her soft face and kind, blue eyes, so long as those eyes didn’t hold the madness they held now, and her pretty blonde hair. Once, if she was a farm girl who only knew her way around her daddy’s shotgun, she could have been a Beth. But now, with the angry scar on her head that Boone now understood was another souvenir Benny had left her with, now with all her guns and her dirty face and her dirty, mercenary clothes, she was Six. Six fit the woman in front of him far better than Beth.

“Six suits you,” he said finally. 

She laughed, and she actually looked happy for a moment, which filled Boone with unexpected warmth. “Maybe Beth did die that day. Maybe her life is over.”

“Doesn’t mean Six’s life hasn’t begun.”

That night, they slept back to back on the queen-sized bed. Six was drunk enough that she drifted off immediately. Boone was kept up by the war in his own mind. 

For some reason, drinking with Six, comforting Six, and now sharing a bed with her, all of them had left him feeling guilty. It wasn’t like any of it was romantic, but he couldn’t stop thinking of Carla. It felt like he was betraying her somehow. Maybe it was because Six looked like Carla. Maybe it was just because, somehow, Boone actually liked Six. He didn’t think he liked her in a sexual or romantic way, but he actually enjoyed her company. He hadn’t let his guard down around anyone in a very long time, and though he didn’t entirely trust or understand Six, he felt confident that she wouldn’t turn around and kill him if she got the chance.

It was just nice to have someone around without having his guard up all the time. He could relax a little. Maybe, with a little more time, they could even be friends. The last time Boone had really had a friend was Manny, but that was too distant and too traumatic to try to rekindle. Maybe Six was a fresh start.

He’d like a fresh start, he decided. He just hoped that he could let himself have it.

~

Six took a couple of jobs from the Garret twins the next morning. One was a pretty simple debt run, which Six agreed to do as long as she didn’t have to kill anyone. Boone admired her ability to stand up for herself and her desire to keep the peace. The second job was to find some hookers for some clients of the Wrangler who had specific tastes. Boone was a little embarrassed to be a part of the conversation, but Six seemed all too entertained by it. 

When they updated Arcade, he said he’d be sitting both of the jobs out. He didn’t want to be a part of the brutish business of debt collection, though he thankfully didn’t shame Six for it, and judging by the color of his face when she mentioned the hooker job, Arcade was just too embarrassed to help them with that.

Six offered Boone a chance to go do his own thing while she took care of the jobs, and Boone did consider it, but he decided to go with her. He didn’t know what he’d do with the time, aside from maybe drink and have a war with his own mind. Besides, Freeside was a dangerous place and he had an urge to protect Six that surprised him. He figured it was probably because she looked like Carla, but he couldn’t push down the idea that it wasn’t the whole reason.

The first guy, a man named Santiago, tried to smooth talk his way out of the debt. Six went back and forth with him for a few minutes before she got mad and grabbed his shirt collar with a strength Boone wouldn’t have predicted based on her size. That scared the poor guy enough to cough up the caps. 

The second one, some poor sod called Grecks, handed over the money the moment Six mentioned she’d been sent by the Garrets. Guy had more sense than Boone had initially thought. 

The last one was a woman named Lady Jane. She made a lot of excuses, most of which Six ignored. She suggested something about a ruined caravan that had the rest of the money, but Six wasn’t exactly in the mood to trek halfway across the Mojave over this. Eventually, Jane handed over what few caps she had and some cigarette cartons that would cover the rest.

The other job was pretty easy too, especially with Six’s charisma and all her smooth-talking. It didn’t take much to convince Old Ben or Beatrix to go work at the Wrangler. It was the sexbot job that got interesting. 

It started at Mick and Ralph's. Six wanted to do some trading anyway, and if anyone knew where they could get a sexbot, it was Ralph. Six and Ralph apparently had a love of junk, scrap, and machines in common because they started chatting about things that Boone couldn’t really understand. That lasted for almost fifteen minutes before Six finally got down to trading. 

Six, evidently, also had a hard time with numbers. She could count to a hundred and do basic addition and subtraction but if it got much more complicated than that, she got confused very easily. 

She also had memory issues beyond amnesia. Boone had to remind her about seven times that they needed to pick up some stimpacks if they were to survive the Mojave  _ and _ Six’s grenade launcher. 

When it was all said and done, Six had almost forgotten about the sexbot, and when she asked about it, she and Ralph started chatting about programming subroutines into different kinds of robots for another ten minutes, which still made absolutely no sense to Boone.

Six offered to explain programming basics to him on their way to the location of the supposed sexbot, but he was confused after the first couple of sentences. Six talked very fast and found herself backtracking quite a bit if she thought she’d missed a detail or forgotten a crucial piece. 

Although Boone was confused, he didn’t mind listening. It was the most she’d spoken the whole time he’d known her and, while he despised small talk and any other form of useless chatter, he liked hearing Six talk about something she was passionate about. Her eyes lit up in a way he’d never seen before when he agreed to listen. 

Again, he found himself thinking of Carla when he looked at her, and it caused an ache in his chest. He wasn’t angry though. Normally when he thought of Carla, he got angry. He supposed it was a step in the right direction, although he wasn’t entirely sure which direction the right one was or if he even wanted to go in it.

The warehouse the sexbot was stored in was crawling with some large rats, but it was otherwise empty, save for a few discarded protectrons. Six found the one they needed and immediately began fiddling with the computer.

“What are you doing?” Boone asked, genuinely curious how she was going to get the damn thing to run. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since before the war.

“Checking to see that everything's in working order, then programming the subroutine. Might take me a couple minutes.”

“Huh,” Boone said, as if he understood, which he most definitely didn’t.

He sat down on the cold concrete floor and watched her work. She never seemed more focused than when she was looking at a machine. He wondered if she’d been a mechanic before she was a courier. He wondered a lot of things about her. How much of her insanity, which Boone could admit terrified him as much as it endeared him, was related to taking some bullets to the head.

“Done!” Six announced after a good ten minutes. 

The robot marched awkwardly out of its glass dome. “Please assume the position.”

“What?” Six’s triumph was briefly interrupted as a look of utter confusion spread across her face.

“What do you mean ‘what’? You programmed it, didn’t you?” Boone looked at her incredulously.

“I am programmed for your pleasure,” the robot said.

“No, the programming for this is already in most of these robots. Pre-war folks liked it freaky, too. I just fiddled with the settings.”

“I am programmed for your pleasure,” the robot said again.

Boone couldn’t stop the blush that had risen to his cheeks. Six just burst into laughter as if it were the funniest thing that ever happened to her.

“No, buddy,” Six chuckled. “You’re heading to the Atomic Wrangler.”

“Understood. Beginning route to the Atomic Wrangler.” The robot marched off.

“Come on, Boone. Let's get paid.” Six helped him up and they were on their way.

~

The combined payments of the two jobs, plus the trading Six had done earlier, earned them just barely enough to get on the Strip. They met Arcade at the Mormon Fort just before dusk.

“How’re things?” Arcade asked when they entered his tent.

“Six got propositioned by a robot,” Boone said, keeping his normal toneless voice.

Arcade’s eyebrows went up. Six shot Boone a mildly entertained glare.

“More importantly,” Six said sternly, although she was smirking, “We have enough money to get on the Strip.”

“Ah good,’ Arcade sighed. “What exactly are you going to do with this Benny guy when you find him?”

Six shrugged, “Kill him.”

“What?” Arcade's eyes widened.

“What did you think I was gonna say?” Six responded defensively. “Did you think I was just gonna have tea and a friendly chat with a guy to put two bullets in my skull and buried me alive in a shallow grave?”

“He what?” Arcade’s eyes got even wider, and Boone watched as Six realized she hadn’t had that conversation with him yet.

Six went silent, looking at her feet.

“How are you still alive?” Arcade managed. 

She shrugged, “I dunno.”

Arcade sighed. “Okay, sit down, I want to examine you.”

Six groaned loudly. “I don’t need to be examined. I’m fine. Just ask Boone, he’s been around me for a little while now.”

Arcade glanced at Boone, who had not wanted to be part of this conversation. 

“Six, you should let him check you out.” 

Six shot him a withering look, but she sat down and pointed out her surgical scar for Arcade. 

“How long ago did this happen?” Arcade asked, looking closely at it. 

“A couple weeks ago,” Six said conversationally, as though they were talking about a party and not her getting shot in the head. 

Arcade shined a flashlight in her eyes which caused her to flinch away. He gently turned her head back towards him. “Are you having any memory problems?”

“Uh, well, I don’t really remember much from my life before I got shot. It took me like a whole week to remember my name.”

“I would expect amnesia from an injury like this. Any other memory issues?”

Six shook her head, but Boone cut in. “Short term memory loss.”

Arcade nodded, “Anything else? Headaches or anything?”

“I do get these bad headaches sometimes,” Six frowned. 

“How bad?”

“Usually it’s just a dull ache, but sometimes it’s blindingly bad.”

“Are you in any pain right now?”

Six shrugged, “It’s pretty much always aching a little.”

“Anything else?”

Six shook her head again and again, Boone supplied another answer. “Her depth perception isn’t great.”

“Oh yeah,” Six chuckled. “Sorry again about that grenade.”

Arcade's eyes widened once again, and he looked from Boone to Six. 

“Christ,” he muttered. “Well, I don’t think you’re going to die anytime soon, at least not from this. Please be careful with grenades and there are some painkillers you can take to help with the headaches.”

“What about my memories?”

“I honestly doubt you’ll ever fully recover your memories, but you’ll probably remember some things over time.”

Six nodded, looking a little sad. Boone couldn’t imagine what it felt like to lose all those memories. Sure, there were things he would rather forget, but he didn’t want to forget his entire life. There were good memories, like the ones he made with Carla when they were together. 

It wasn’t just memories though. Six had forgotten her entire identity. She didn’t know who she was. She was trying to piece together bits of a person that would probably remain buried in that shallow grave forever. Six was right when she said that Beth was dead. Benny had seen to that. 

~

Boone did not like the idea of going into the Lucky 38. No one had ever been in there and now they were following a securitron onto the casino floor. 

Six didn’t look happy about it either. Arcade just looked nervous but Six had been interrupted yet again on her all-encompassing quest for revenge and she was not thrilled.

The Lucky 38 looked like it had not been touched in years, which it really hadn’t. It was dusty and dim. The only sign that life had once existed there was the remnants of a pre-war world. Old newspapers sat on tables. Half smoked cigarettes rested on ashtrays. Bottles of liquor sat next to empty glasses. Once, this place had been full of life, but now, it was as if someone had pressed pause.

The securitron to Six up to the penthouse alone. Boone didn’t like the idea of her going up there alone. She’d attempted to reassure him with a confident smile, but Boone could tell it was forced. She didn’t know what she was walking into either.

Boone and Arcade were forced to sit and wait and hope that Six would come back to them.

She did, fifteen minutes later, grinning like a mad-woman, that mad glint in her eye shining brighter than ever.

“Boys,” she said, dangling some kind of key from one of her fingers, “I’ve got something to show you.”

She ushered them into the elevator. Boone wasn’t sure he wanted to know what they were going to find, but he didn’t have a lot of choice at this point. There was no saying no to Six.

The elevator rose high, higher than Boone wanted to go. When it stopped, he figured they must be pretty close to the top. The doors opened and the robotic voice said “Presidential Suite”.

Six stepped out, arms wide, grinning broadly. “Welcome home, boys.”

Arcade followed her, looking around in wonder. “You mean we can stay here?”

“Yep. I’m the only one allowed to go up to the penthouse, but other than that, we have a whole casino to ourselves.”

“What’s the catch?” Boone grunted. He didn’t trust this.

Six grinned, “House wants me to deal with Benny. The package Benny stole from me was House’s and he wants it back.”

“And after that?”

Six shrugged, “We’ll go from there. You two make yourselves at home. I’m gonna go get Benny.”

Arcade had already vanished into one of the bedrooms. Six slipped her pack off, leaving inside the door of the master bedroom. Boone didn’t move.

She glanced up at him, concern beginning to weave its way onto her features.

“What is it, Boone?”

“I’m coming with you.” He figured it was best to state things plainly.

She looked surprised. “What? No, Boone, I can’t ask you to do that. This is my fight.”

“I’ll back you up, then. In case things get ugly.”

“I guarantee things will get ugly, that's the whole damn point. You don’t need to be a part of that.”

“You helped me with my revenge,” he pointed out. “I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me shit, Boone,” Six sighed. “But I suppose some backup, just in case, is not the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

Boone nodded.

“Let’s get going then. I’ve waited long enough.”

~

They made Boone and Six check their weapons at the door. Boone handed in everything but he caught six slipping a switchblade between the folds of her shirt when the guards weren’t looking. 

The lack of guns would make things complicated. They hadn’t exactly discussed a plan ahead of time. Six had tunnel vision and Boone hadn’t been able to get her to think about anything other than getting to the Tops. If they had made a plan, it would’ve involved guns.

Six spotted the checkered suit before Boone did and she was moving across the casino floor at lightning speed, pushing her way through the evening throng of gamblers and partiers. 

_ Shit _ , Boone thought, seeing all the people. If things went badly, a lot of civilians could get caught in the crossfire. He was pretty sure Six hadn’t considered that, and based on her face, she wasn’t going to.

She caught up with Benny, who was surrounded by armed bodyguards, and tapped him on the shoulder, putting on a sweet smile that barely concealed her rage.

He turned, his eyes widening when he saw her. “What in the goddamn?” He backed up several paces, putting his hands up. “Let's keep this in the groove, eh? Smooth moves, smooth…”

He was obviously usually a smooth talker, but no amount of charisma was going to talk him out of this one and even he was smart enough to know what.

Casually, Six pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She had him right where she wanted him.

“When you shot me,” she said after a long drag, “you ran off so fast I never got your name.”

Alarm bells went off in Boone’s mind. What was Six doing? Was she flirting with Benny? The guy who tried to kill her? Benny relaxed, though, just enough for it to be perceptible. Maybe Six had the right idea. She was in full control here.

“You making a pass at me, sister?” Benny chuckled nervously. “Cause, uh, I’m out of your league.”

“Is it wrong to want a guy who’d shoot me in the head?” She batted her eyelashes at him, but Boone could hear the slight sarcasm in her voice.

“Did those bullets scramble your egg?” Benny asked.  _ Yes _ , Boone though, but he kept it to himself. “Or were you always a naughty broad.”

Boone hated the way he called her a broad. He didn’t like it when men referred to women like that in general, but it especially pissed him off when it was directed at Six. It especially pissed him off when it was directed at Six, coming from a man who’d shot her in the head.

“Girls like bad boys,” Six shrugged, taking another sultry drag of her cigarette. “You have been downright awful.”

“You’re one sick pussycat, baby. There’s quins, and then there's… I don’t even know what to call you.”

“I’m saying I dig you, despite it all.” Six was clearly starting to lose her patience. Her desired outcome wasn’t happening fast enough, apparently. “What do you say?”

“I hear ‘dig’ from you, babe, and all I can think is shovel.” Benny’s facade was fracturing, his conflicting emotions showing on his face. “How can this be? This ain’t forgiveness, it’s something… wrong.”

Boone couldn’t entirely disagree with the man there.

“I'm a courier, remember? Don't you want me to handle your package?”

Boone felt his face go hot. Even Benny was flushed. Six remained poised, clearly pleased with herself. She had Benny exactly where she wanted him.

“All right, honey baby, this is all kinds of wrong, but to my suite it is. Thirteenth floor. Don't keep me waiting.” Benny began to slowly move towards the elevators.

Six made to follow, but Boone snatched her arm, startling her. “What are you doing?” He hissed through gritted teeth.

“Just trust me,” she smiled cooly, but he could see she was nervous too. Once she and Benny were alone, anything could happen. He might decide to tie up that last loose end. “If I’m not back at the ‘38 by morning, finish him for me. 13th floor, don’t forget.”

With that, she shook herself loose from Boone's grip and caught up with Benny. The man took her hand, leading her away with a final, triumphant glance back at Boone.

This was not going to end well.


	3. Chapter 3

When Boone opened the bedroom door of Benny’s suite in the Tops, it was almost four in the morning. His eyes had to adjust to the lack of light, but he could see, with the help of the dull glow of Six’s pipboy and the tip of a cigarette, that someone lay dead on the bed. 

The corpse was on its back, eyes wide, mouth open. Blood seeped from a number of stab wounds around the chest and neck. There were too many wounds to count. 

Boone knew he shouldn’t have let Six come up here alone.

He’d tried, really tried, to get a good night's sleep in the Lucky 38, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about what might be happening to Six right then. If she was in trouble, he wouldn’t be there to help her. She’d said he didn’t owe her anything, but he felt like he did still, and letting this happen was the opposite of making up for that debt.

Arcade had tried to reassure him. “Six is a big girl, she can handle herself.” 

It wasn’t Six’s abilities that Boone worried about.

Finally, just before four in the morning, when Six still hadn’t returned, Boone had to find out if she was okay.

She was sitting on the bed next to Benny’s corpse in her bra and underwear, smoking a cigarette nonchalantly. When Boone crashed through the door, she didn’t look up. 

“Six?” Boone panted, trying to see through the dark of the room and confirm that it was her. She didn’t answer, didn’t even lookup. “Six?” Boone asked again, a little more forcefully.

Six still didn’t lookup. She was in her own world. Boone had seen plenty of soldiers shut down like this after particularly gruesome battles or experiences. They would be unresponsive for hours if you let them. 

Boone made sure the door to the suite was shut, then he hurried over to Six, mind screaming. She needed to be far away from here when they found the body or she’d have a hoard of angry chairmen after her. 

As gently as he could, he placed his hands on her shoulders and shook lightly. “Six? You in there?”

Slowly, she turned her head to meet his eyes and focused in. “Boone?”

“Yup,” he said, feeling relieved. 

The blood on her skin was mostly dry and her cigarette was close to done. He didn't see any open wounds on her. This hadn’t happened too long ago, but long enough.

Boone found her shirt on the ground and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Get dressed Six, we need to move.”

The process of returning to reality wasn’t quick. Six looked around, slowly beginning to register the blood and the body next to her. 

“Fuck,” she whispered, her voice quavering. “What the fuck did I do?”

Boone tossed her pants in her general direction, trying to collect all her things, all evidence that she’d been here. “Six, we need to move now.”

“Boone?” he looked up when she said his name. Her eyes filled with tears.

“I know, Six, but it’s over. He can’t hurt you now.”

“He didn’t try to hurt me, I just…” she gestured shakily to the corpse.

Boone sighed, “Six, he tried to kill you. Should’ve succeeded too.”

“But this?” She whispered. “This is insane. I did this.”

“He deserved it.” Boone deadpanned. “Six, we’ll talk about it later, let's just get out of this goddamn casino.”

She nodded, pulling on her shirt and pants clumsily. Boone opened the closet, searching for a large jacket of some kind to cover the blood on her. They’d have time to wash it all off later but they needed to move now. They’d just have to cover it. 

Boone couldn’t find anything except her duster so he tossed that at her. 

Six grabbed a few things off the bedside table and shoved them in the pockets of the duster; looked like a fancy lighter, a pack of cigarettes, and something shiny that Boone only caught a glimpse of. She slid off the bed, finding Benny’s belt on the floor. His pistol was still in its holster and she ran her finger along the engravings.

“Six?” Boone demanded. She looked ready enough to leave but she was staring at the gun. “Let's go.”

She pulled the holster off the belt and tucked it under the waistline of her pants. Then she hurried to join him and together the speed-walked out of the casino.

Luckily there weren’t many people out so early in the morning. The hallways and elevator were empty, the casino itself nearly so. They didn’t pick up any weapons; Boone had gotten both his and hers earlier and taken them home.

Six kept her hands firmly in her pockets, face down, the collar of her duster up to conceal the bloodstains on her neck and face. They were moving fast, Boone leading Six by her elbow, but no one seemed to consider them odd enough for a second glance. 

It wasn’t until they got back out on the Strip that they were stopped. It was a tall man wearing a suit and hat. Boone realized that he’d been standing outside the Tops when he went in.

Six’s eyes found his face and Boone instantly knew she recognized the man.

“It’s you,” she hissed, apparently disliking him. “From Nipton.”

The man nodded, smirking. “The eyes of Caesar are upon you. He admires your accomplishments and bestows upon you the exceptional gift of his mark. Any crimes you may have perpetrated against the Legion are hereby forgiven. Caesar will not extend this mercy a second time.”

It was clear in his last words that this was a threat. If Six did anything against the Legion, she could become a target. They knew who she was, they had eyes on her.

Boone wanted to slap the man. He wanted to hurt him. His fist clenched but he stilled when he felt Six grab his arm, not to stop him but for support. 

“What’s the catch?” She managed.

“My Lord requires your presence at his camp, at Fortification Hill. His Mark will guarantee your safe-conduct through our lands.”

“If this is a trap,” Six said, speaking slowly and through gritted teeth, “I’m going to take a lot of you down with me.”

The man feigned offense, but it was clear he enjoyed her reaction. “The mighty Caesar has bestowed upon you his Mark and guaranteed safe-conduct. If he wanted you dead, you would be dead already.  Seek Caesar by way of Cottonwood Cove, south of Nelson. The Cursor Lucullus will be waiting.”

With that, the man disappeared into the chaos of the Strip. Six stood perfectly still for a long moment, holding in one red-stained hand the mark the man had given her.

“Who was he?” Boone asked.

Six shook her head, gripping the mark with white knuckles and shoving it into her pocket. “Vulpes Inculta. I met him at Nipton. He chose to spare my life there, on the condition that I spread the word of Legion atrocities.”

Boone was taken completely by surprise. Vulpes Inculta was a name he knew all too well. He didn’t like Six receiving a formal invitation to go to Caesar’s camp. It spelled trouble.

Six marched back to the Lucky 38, Boone trailing behind her, trying to make sure no one noticed the red stains on her skin.

When they returned, Arcade insisted on examining her. He found no injuries, so he sent her off for a bath.

She locked herself in the bathroom for the better part of two hours. Arcade knocked on the door several times to ensure she hadn’t drowned. Each time she responded with a quick “Still alive” and nothing more.

When she was done, she grabbed a full bottle of whiskey from the kitchen and locked herself in the master bedroom. She slept all day the next day. Boone told Arcade what he knew, but Boone hadn’t been there when Six killed Benny. He didn’t know much.

The next evening, Boone knocked on the door and she let him in. He noticed several empty bottles by the bed but said nothing. 

Six sat him down and showed him a shiny poker chip made of some kind of metal. 

“What is it?” Boone didn’t understand what was happening.

“This,” Six said grimly, ”is what Benny was willing to kill over. This is why Caesar wants to see me.”

~

The next few weeks passed in a rush of chaos. Six seemed to be putting off dealing with the platinum chip. She knew she wasn’t going to use it to help Caesar but the rest was unclear. She allied herself with the NCR for the greater good, but she had mixed feelings about them. She also had mixed feelings about House and his plans for Vegas. So, she’d decided to wait and plot her next move.

She’d mentioned using the mark of Caesar to get the closest look that anyone outside of the Legion had gotten at the Fort and it’s defenses before the NCR launched a full-scale attack. Boone didn’t like this idea and he made that very clear to Six. She suggested it a few more times but continued to get shut down by Boone until she stopped mentioning it.

Instead, they found themselves all over. To earn some more caps, they did some work for the Crimson Caravan company. It took them all the way back to the Mojave Outpost, where they picked up a whiskey-loving woman called Rose of Sharon Cassidy, or Cass for short. On the way back, they found some spunky girl named Veronica who apparently lived in a hole. Six and Veronica spent the rest of the walk back to the ‘38 talking about machines and machine parts and programming while Boone and Cass exchanged confused glances the whole time.

Then, Six convinced a Crimson Caravan member to quit with her silver-tongue. If that hadn’t been morally questionable, Six’s risky break-in at the Gun Runners factory certainly was. Boone had raised his eyebrow when she told him the plan, but he stood outside and kept watch anyway, hoping Six wasn’t getting herself into trouble she couldn’t get out of. It turned out alright in the end, and they got a good amount of caps for it and Six got a good kick out of poking fun at Alice McLafferty.

To make up for her morally grey actions, Six busied herself helping out the Kings in Freeside. They might have been a gang, but Six reasoned that they had the best interests of the people at heart. When the King trusted Six with the caretaking and recovery of Rex, his cyberdog, Boone didn’t think she could possibly be more excited about anything. She and Veronica spent a few hours that night examining him and figuring out what made him tick. Then, Six busied herself teaching him tricks like  _ roll over _ and  _ fetch my gun _ and  _ steal Boone’s gecko steak off of his plate _ .

Only a few days later, Six managed to get herself entangled in some cannibalism conspiracy at the Ultra-Lux after talking to some robot Benny had apparently programmed to be helpful. Boone had been happy to take down some cannibals until Six made him wear a suit in an attempt to blend in with the White Gloves. He complained about it every chance he got, but seeing Six in that yellow dress with her hair done up in pretty curls made it a little worth it. Seeing her like that hit him in the chest in more than one way. With all the grime of the wasteland off and a little makeup and sparkle on, Six looked so much like Carla it hurt. But he was still strangely sad when they dealt with the cannibals and the time came for her to take it all off. She hadn’t even gotten blood on the dress when one of the waiters attacked them.

Next thing Boone knew, they were fighting a horde of super mutants up at Black Mountain, which would have been fine if Six hadn’t run out grenades for her grenade launcher midway through. Boone did his best to stay far enough back that his rifle was actually useful but there was so much chaos that it was hard to keep track of which targets to shoot at and which not to shoot at. At one point, Boone thought he was gonna lose Six and Rex when Rex bit the arm of a super mutant and wouldn’t let go and Six tried to step in and help the poor dog. Boone managed to get a headshot in before the mutant bashed her brains in, but she had not emerged entirely unscathed.

Trying to avoid Tabitha while Boone made sure Six wasn’t too concussed to go on led them into a workshop with a broken robot lying on the table. Six looked at it for all of five seconds before she figured out what the issue was and fixed it. Apparently, this robot was Tabitha’s friend and she thanked Six for fixing it by letting them live.

They found Raul, a prisoner of Tabitha’s, locked in a back room. Six suggested he come with them, and just like that, the gang had grown once more.

When they got back to the ‘38, Six, Raul, and Veronica spent days fixing the broken ham radio in the lounge and finding enough handheld radios to go with it, that way they’d be able to keep in touch more easily.

The radios got working just in time for Six to decide to take on one of her more reckless projects.

Six and Boone took the long walk down to Camp McCarren from the Strip. Six suggested they go see what aid they can provide in the area and Boone wasn’t about to argue. Veronica insisted they take one of the new radios for a trial run and Six agreed, sticking it in her pack.

Camp McCarren hadn’t really changed since Boone retired. Watching the soldiers laugh and joke and drink together almost made him long for the camaraderie he once had. He missed the military more than he’d realized. 

Six watched everything around her like a hawk, startling at sudden movements or loud noises. Boone has spent enough time around her to be able to pick out her moods and figure out what was going on with her. It was clear that the remnants of her head injury were frustrating her. She spent nights with her palms pressed to her temples muttering names and places to herself, trying desperately to remember. It didn’t seem like she was getting far with that. 

Boone watched her scan faces as they passed and he knew she was hoping someone would recognize her. No one did. Boone felt bad for her.

They found Major Dhatri near the command tent. Six didn’t know who he was, she was just looking for someone with authority to get work from. Boone wondered if Dhatri would recognize him.

The Major didn’t even look up from his paperwork when Six and Boone entered. 

“If it's bad news, you can take it up with the Colonel,” he said, probably assuming they were soldiers. “If it's good news, it better involve some dead Fiends.”

“What about old friends?” Boone said before Six could get a word in.

Dhatri’s head snapped up, a smile spreading across his face. “Well, I’ll be damned, if it isn’t Craig Boone. I’d ask if you’re here to reenlist, but I have a feeling that’s wishful thinking.”

Boone shook his head, “Fraid not sir. We’re looking to help out though. This is my partner, Six.”

Dhatri seemed to notice her for the first time, “Six? Nice to meet ya. Say, that name is awful familiar. You wouldn’t happen to be that courier everyone’s buzzing about on the Strip these days?”

Six smiled somewhat awkwardly, “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Well,” Dhatri leaned back, sighing. “What can I do for you two?”

“Hear you’re having issues with Fiends. That true?” Six asked and Boone wanted to point out to her that their last Fiend encounter had been by accident and left her with a bullet in her arm.

“Damn right I am, and I’m paying bounties for ‘em,” Dhatri’s voice was almost a growl. “I’ve got three Fiends I want dead and I don’t give a goddamn how it gets done. Sound like something that interests you two?”

“Yes it does,” Six grinned.

“Good. That's damn good. I figure it's about time we got lucky out here, so maybe you can snuff one of these maniacs.”

“Tell us about them,” Boone said.

“First one calls herself Violet. God knows why - the name is the prettiest thing about her. Spends most of her time with a pack of vicious dogs. Then there's Driver Nephi. He's fast and he's brutal. Killed about a dozen of my men with a goddamn driver iron. Hence his name. And finally... Cook-cook. Rapist. Pyromaniac. And damn good chef, if you believe the Fiends we've captured. Probably the craziest of the lot. I'm not going to feed you any bullshit. These aren't your common Vegas trash. They've all killed good NCR men, and plenty of mercs, too.”

“Boone and I aren’t your everyday mercs,” Six put in.

Dhatri sighed, “I have no doubts there. Look, you go after them - any of them - you're in for a hell of a fight. So... which one is it going to be?”

Six glanced at Boone and he shrugged, indicating his lack of preference. He was eager to wipe out any of these bastards.

“We’ll start with Violet, then,” she said. “Anything else we should know?”

“Violet it is. Wish I could give you more advice on how to bring her down, but we know less about her than the other two. Just watch out for the dogs. She raises them herself. Might as well be their mother - they never leave her side.” Dhatri continued his paperwork, but he looked a lot more relaxed than he did when they entered. 

“Any idea where we can find her?”

“Good question. Fiend territory is southeast of here, but they range all over the area. None of them stays in any one place for long.” Six nodded and they turned to leave, but Dhatri spoke up once more. “One more thing. If you want the full reward, you need to bring me a recognizable head. My superiors need proof they're gone. That means no headshots. No decapitations 'til after they're dead. And no damage to the face. If you want to be safe, aim for the chest. You bring me a head that looks like a rotten tomato, people will be doubting, and I won't be authorized to pay the entire bounty.”

“Thanks,” Boone said, giving him a small smile.

Dhatri nodded, “Good luck to you. And don't get careless.”

Boone gave Six a meaningful glance at that and she responded with her own  _ I’m never careless _ look. Six missed Dhatri’s entertained smile, but Boone didn’t.

~

“Partners, huh?” Six nudged him with her elbow when they were out on the road again. 

Boone glanced at her, almost nervously, “Was that not okay?”

“No, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect you to admit you like having me around.”

“I didn’t admit anything.”

“Liar,” Six laughed.

Boone tried to glare at her, but he couldn’t help the smirk creeping onto his face. 

“We are partners, though,” Six continued. “We travel together, fight together, keep each other breathing, all that good stuff.”

Boone nodded, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks.

“Hey, Boone?” Six said just as they were coming up on what they thought was Violet's current hideout.

“Yeah?”

“Despite the fact that you’re a grump, I like having you around too.”

Before Boone could respond, she was moving on ahead to find a good vantage point.

He didn’t know what to do about flipping in his stomach, so he ignored it and followed close behind.

Six had her binoculars out and was scanning the area. Boone set up his rifle and looked through the scope.

“There’s definitely a lot of dogs, so I think we’re in the right place,” Six muttered. “Only see the one person, probably Violet.”

“Got a plan in mind?”

Six murmured something to herself that Boone didn’t understand before she spoke, “I’ve got some explosives. If I can draw all the dogs to one place somehow and then set them off, that’d take care of them more efficiently. Then you can take care of Violet when she comes out in the open.”

“How’re you gonna draw them to one place without getting eaten?”

“I’ll figure something out,” she shrugged.

Boone shot her a glance, “Six, that’s not a real plan.”

“When was the last time I had a real, fleshed-out plan?”

“Never.”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“For now.”

“Okay, fine,” Six groaned, fishing around in her pack for something. “Here’s the detonator. I’ll lay the traps then get the dogs to chase me and when they get close enough to the explosives. If there are any stragglers, I’ll take care of them while you get Violet. Good enough?”

“What if you’re too close to the explosives?”

“I’ll be fast.”

“And if you’re not fast enough?”

“I’d rather get blown up than torn apart by angry dogs.”

Boone grunted his disapproval, “We’re not doing it. Too risky.”

“Do you have a better plan?”

Boone was silent. He did not have a better plan.

Six sighed, “I’ll be fast, I promise. Everything we do is risky but we’re both still here so we must be doing something right.”

Boone had a lot of arguments for that but he voiced none of them. Instead, he nodded begrudgingly and watched Six carefully make her way down towards the camp. He held the detonator tightly, ready for her to get the dog's attention and move. She better be fast enough. 

Six gave him a signal when she placed the bombs so he’d know where they were. Then, she made her way up towards where they were. She had her gun ready, at least. She stood up completely, firing one shot straight up in the air. It had the desired effect. All the dogs were looking for the source. Six started waving her arms about and shouting and Boone might’ve laughed if he wasn’t so anxious about this plan.

Six took off, sprinting towards the trap she’d laid and the dogs followed. She was faster than he’d expected, Boone would give her that, but the dogs were fast too. They were catching up with her and Boone knew she was going to be cutting it pretty close. 

She leaped over the traps, the dogs not nearly far enough behind her. Boone pressed the button on the detonator. He lost track of Six in the explosion, but he didn’t have time to worry. He looked through his scope, putting his finger on the trigger. He had Violet in his sights. He found a weak point in her armor and squeezed. She fell and didn’t get back up.

Boone looked back to where he last saw Six and caught sight of her again, Breathing a long sigh of relief. She was okay. She looked a little singed, but she was perfectly fine.

Boone picked up his rifle and jogged down to her.

“Six,” he said breathlessly, “we’re not doing that again.”

“I told you it’d be fine,” she grinned.

He rolled his eyes at her and he knew she could see through his sunglasses just enough to see it. Her smile didn’t falter.


	4. Chapter 4

They made it back to McCarren just before sundown. Six radioed the ‘38 to let the rest of the crew know they were still alive and then they went and found Major Dhatri.

He was standing near some of the barracks tents drinking a beer. When he saw them approaching, his face lit up.

“I see you're still alive, and that's promising. Any luck on that bounty?”

Six held up the bloody canvas bag that held Violet’s head. Dhatri grimaced a little. He took it, examining the contents.

“Goddammit. That's Violet, all right. You've made me one happy son of a bitch, you know that?” He put the bag aside and shook Six’s hand vigorously.

“Glad to help,” Six grinned. 

“Think you can take down another one of these scumbags?” Dhatri looked hopeful, which was an expression Boone couldn’t recall ever seeing on the man's face. “Up to you, but I can trust you to do the job, and I'd hate to see you walk away.”

Boone wasn’t thrilled about Six running into a battle with half of a plan again, but that was going to happen regardless of what jobs they did.

“Yeah, we’re in,” Boone said and he actually smiled.

“Fantastic!” Dhatri shook Boone’s hand too. “Which one do you want next?”

“Let's get that Driver Nephi character,” Six suggested and Boone nodded his agreement.

“You've got some guts, I'll give you that. Nephi is one tough son of a bitch. You let him get close, and he'll take your head off.”

“Any advice on dealing with him,” Boone asked. “I’m usually far away but I prefer Six with her head attached.”

Dhatri chuckled, “I’m sure she does too. My advice is this: Talk to Lieutenant Gorobets. He's in charge of Alpha Team, 1st Recon. Snipers. If you're lucky, you can lure Nephi into the open, and the sharpshooters can bring him down. You bring me the head, you'll still get the bounty. It's a better bet than trying to take Nephi one-on-one, but it's your call.”

“Will do, Dhatri. Thanks.” 

“Anytime, Boone. You two have gone after the Fiends before - I don't have to tell you to keep alert. Good luck.”

“Oh, any chance we could sleep here tonight?” Six asked before she turned to leave.

“Sure thing, there’s some empty bunks in the tent you two could take.”

“Thanks.”

Once they were out of earshot, Six spoke up again. 

“So, how do you feel about working with First Recon again?”

Boone shrugged, “Haven’t seen any of them in a long while. It’ll be good.”

“Good, ‘cause Dhatri was, right, I prefer my head attached to my body.”

~

They found First Recon all drinking by the campfire. The first to notice them, or rather, notice Boone, was a tall, clean-shaven man with dark hair.

“I’ll be damned!” He shouted, getting the attention of his comrades. “When Dhatri told me you were around, I thought he was pulling my leg.”

The man came over and pulled Boone into a friendly hug. 

“Good to see you too, Gorobets,” Boone actually smiled a little and he could feel Six’s approving eyes on him.

“Shit, Boone?” An older man with a white mustache piped up. “Never thought I’d see you again.”

“My partner and I are doing mercenary work around here so I figured I’d show my face,” Boone said nonchalantly, but he was actually surprised at how much he’d missed everyone.

Gorobets looked almost disappointed, “So you’re not reenlisting, then?”

“Not this time, no,” Boone shook his head. “Keeping this one alive is a full-time job,” He said, nudging Six, and her face lit up when she realized he’d made a joke.

“Well, you two should come sit and have a drink.” Gorobets made a younger guy with glasses scoot over so Six and Boone could sit.

“Boone,” a woman shouted across the fire at them, “Why don’t you introduce us to your lovely friend here?”

“Right. Everyone, this is my partner, Six. Six, this is Gorobets, Betsy, Sterling, Bitter-Root, and 10 of Spades.”

Six waved, smiling.

“So I heard from Dhatri that you guys are going after Fiends,” Gorobets said, leaning in.

Boone nodded, “Took care of Violet today. Hopefully, she’s the first of many.”

“How’d you pull that off?” Sterling looked surprised. “We’ve sent multiple mercs and troops after her and nothing’s worked so far.”

“Six had half a plan and improvised the rest and somehow we didn’t die,” Boone said, straight-faced as always.

Everyone laughed. 

“Is that how you two usually do things?” Gorobets looked very entertained.

Boone shrugged and Six giggled, nodding slightly. 

“Well, whatever it is you two are doing, it’s clearly working,” Sterling said. “We’ve been hearing lots about a courier and a sniper. Just didn’t realise at first that the sniper was Boone, but it must be.”

Again, Boone shrugged. “Six can’t go anywhere without attracting something crazy.”

“Actually, speaking of crazy,” Six cut in, “We’re going after Driver Nephi tomorrow and we were hoping to get some backup. Dhatri suggested we come to you.”

“We could use some sharpshooters backing us up,” Boone agreed.

“Do you guys have more than half of a plan?” Betsy teased. 

Boone gave Six a raised eyebrow look that said,  _ do you? _

“Let's just say I’m working on the specifics,” Six said, shooting Boone a glare. “But you guys won’t be directly in the line of fire. I’ll lure Nephi and the other Fiends out somehow, and you guys just back me up.”

“You mean it's just gonna be you down there alone with all of those Fiends?” Gorobets asked incredulously. “I don’t mean to doubt you, but that's suicide, even with a whole team of snipers backing you up.”

Six shrugged. “Pretty sure I should be dead at least three times over by now, but here I am.”

“The Lieutenant has a point, Six,” Boone said. “Maybe you shouldn’t go down alone.”

“Last I checked, you guys are all snipers,” Six sat forwards. “I’d love to have someone down there with me, but if things get ugly you have to be able to deal with close quarters. Besides, if First Recon is as good as I’ve heard, I’ll be fine with y’all covering me.”

Boone didn’t like it but Six had a point. She was the only competent close-range fighter. Boone carried a sidearm and he could use it if he needed to, but if he was in that situation he was already at a disadvantage.

“I’ll be fine,” Six assured. “Just back me up and we’ll have nothing to worry about.

~

Later that night, Boone and Six found a quiet, unoccupied corner of the barracks. Six drank a bit more than Boone and she collapsed on the bottom bunk, a warm glow and grin on her face. 

“What do you think of First Recon?” Six mumbled.

“They’re some of the best around,” Boone answered. “Why? You nervous about tomorrow or something?”

Six shook her head. “With you all backing me up? Nah, I trust you and you trust them. Good enough for me.”

Boone chuckled. Trust. Six trusted him. He wanted to say she shouldn’t, but he supposed that would only start an argument or give her reason to be nervous.

“You looked happy today.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. 

“Huh?”

“Back with your people,” Six said. “You looked happy. You usually look mad. Maybe you should consider reenlisting. It’d be good to see you happy more often.”

Boone sighed. “You’re my people too, Six. Now get some sleep. We need to get up early and you’re gonna need your rest.”

It didn’t take long for her breath to even out. Boone climbed up onto the top bunk and lay, listening to the steady inhales and exhales.

He’d considered reenlisting, sure, but after Bitter Springs, he wasn’t sure if he ever could. Right now, his only goals in life were protecting Six and killing as many legionnaires as he could before they killed him. There wasn’t room for future plans in that. 

Boone wasn’t sleeping very deeply, so the coughing and panting below him woke him abruptly.

It sounded like Six was choking and Boone immediately rolled off the top bunk to check on her. Her eyes were closed but he could see them moving rapidly behind her eyelids. Her breathing was uneven and far too quick.

He took her shoulder in his hand and gently shook her, trying to pull her out of whatever nightmare she was in. 

“Six,” he muttered, trying not to wake anyone else up. “Six, come on, wake up.”

Her eyes opened and she flinched away from him hard, nearly falling out of the bed. She was panting like she’d been unable to breath. Her hands went to her chest and neck, then instinctively to the scar on the side of her head where the bullets had entered her skull. Boone didn’t need to guess what she’d dreamed about. He knew.

“Fuck,” she breathed when she finally got her breathing under control. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Don’t be,” he said seriously. “Want to talk about it?”

Six put her head in her hands. Boone had never seen her look so small, so scared. It was easy to forget, with a personality as big as hers, that she barely reached his chin. She might’ve been strong but she was so thin. Most of the time, she made up for it with a combination of big shoes and a big coat and the confidence of a person three times her size, but right now, when she was scared and vulnerable, Boone could see a new side of her.

She let out a long, shaky sigh, and Boone could tell she was on the verge of tears. “When Benny shot me and buried me, I was still conscious.”

Boone took a minute to register what she was saying. “Shit, Six.”

She refused to meet his eyes, opting instead to look at her knees. “I was confused, disoriented, but I could feel the head wound and the dirt in my mouth and nose and eyes. I was… I was so scared. Sometimes I wish Benny had just done the job right the first time and put me out of my misery.”

Boone blinked in surprise. That admission was a lot. It pointed to a struggle deeper than Boone had initially noticed, one Boone understood.

“Six…” he started, but found he didn’t know what to say. How could he explain that he’d die before he let anything happen to her? How could he give her a reason for living when he barely had his own?

“No, it’s okay. Fuck, I didn’t mean that,” she muttered, sounding angry now. “Maybe I did. I don’t know. Everything is just so much sometimes. I have nothing to compare it to anymore, so it just all feels so overwhelming. I’m sorry if I worried you. I’m gonna go for a walk, you should go back to sleep.”

Before Boone could respond, she got up and walked away. He wanted to follow her, to make sure she was okay. He knew she wasn’t and he knew there wasn’t much he could do, but he wanted to try.

It wouldn’t help. Boone couldn’t expect her to work on her issues if he wouldn’t even give his a voice.

Boone climbed back up onto the bunk, but he didn’t go back to sleep until he heard Six come back.

~

They headed out just after sunrise the next morning. Six seemed chipper, chatting with Betsy and Sterling and Spades and even getting a laugh out of Bitter-Root. She barely spoke to Boone, though, and hardly met his eyes. It didn’t feel angry. She wasn’t mad at him. Boone figured she just felt awkward about the whole thing. Awkward or ashamed. Either way, Boone felt like he’d done something wrong.

They found Nephi pretty quickly. The snipers got set up while Six considered all her options. She had explosives, although none that she could detonate with the detonator, they’d used all those on the dogs the day before. She had her grenade launcher, but she didn’t want to mess up Nephi’s face. Any explosives would have to be used as a lure.

Boone noticed, for the first time, that Six wasn’t using her usual revolver. In its place was a familiar pistol with engravings. It was the gun she’d taken from Benny’s suite. Boone realized quietly that it was probably the gun she’d been shot with.

Six didn’t seem worried about getting in so close. Boone figured she shouldn’t be. They did this sort of thing all the time. It was always Six in the middle of things while Boone backed her up from afar. Hell, this time she had the First Recon Battalion keeping an eye on her. Boone still had a bad feeling. He did his best to ignore it.

“Got a plan?” Boone asked when the snipers were ready and she looked like she was about to get moving.

Six winked at him, “Maybe.”

She didn’t. Boone sighed. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Careful is my middle name.”

“Six, you barely know your first name.”

She waved her hand dismissively, “Details.”

Boone didn’t have anything else to say, or at least nothing else he could voice, so he watched her move down towards the ruined structure where the Fiends were camping through his scope. 

She was stealthy. Boone hadn’t had a lot of chances to notice it, but Six had a knack for vanishing into her surroundings, even in the desert where there wasn’t much cover. She’d gotten in and out of the Gun Runners factory without being noticed and she hadn’t even used a stealth boy. Every time he lost sight of her, Boone held his breath. He didn’t even realize he was doing it until Betsy put a calming hand on his shoulder.

“She’s fine,” she whispered and Boone forced himself to relax.

Six got in close to the structure, pressing her back against one of the walls. She glanced up in the direction of the snipers and Boone could see a mischievous smirk on her face. 

Then, she pulled out a grenade and tossed it in, moving to a cover further away as fast as she could.

It had the desired effect. It had been obvious. She didn’t want to hurt the Fiends so much as force them out into the open.

Someone inside the building shouted, “GRENADE!” and just like that, Fiends came pouring out. Boone counted them quickly. He got to twelve before things got too chaotic to keep up. They’d spotted Six when she started taking shots at them from behind part of another collapsed building. She was keeping her distance from them for now. 

Boone and the other snipers took out the Fiends in the open one by one, but it didn’t take long for them to realize that there were still a few hiding out in the building.

They finally caught sight of Nephi and Boone felt his heart stop. Six was held between him and the snipers, the golf club held against her chest. She was putting up a hell of a fight and she was clearly stronger than the Fiend had expected, but he was at least twice her size.

“Boone,” Betsy grunted, “I can’t a clear shot.”

“Me neither,” he responded through gritted teeth.

Out of nowhere, Six dropped like a stone, surprising her captor. Both of them went down, falling behind a mostly-destroyed bit of wall. Boone could see flailing limbs and rolling dirt and rubble. 

The man suddenly reappeared, as if he’d been pushed down the slight incline passed the wall. He rolled clumsily before he managed to stop himself and get to his feet. 

Boone aimed and squeezed the trigger, catching Nephi in the chest. Another bullet from somewhere to Boone’s left caught him in the stomach. He was down on his knees for a moment before collapsing on the ground. Just like that, Driver Nephi was no more.

Six didn’t immediately reappear. Boone waited a few moments, hoping she would stand up and brush herself off and give them a thumbs up with a cheeky grin but nothing happened. 

Before Boone even fully processed that and told his limbs to move he was staggering down the hill, moving at full speed towards where he’d last seen her. He knew that at least two others were behind him, but he didn’t look back to check who.

“Six?” He called, trying not to let the panic he was starting to feel. “Six?”

He found her slowly propping herself up against the ruined wall. There was a streak of blood running down the side of her face from a wound on her forehead, worryingly close to her bullet scar. 

Boone was on his knees next to her, examining her for any other injuries. He found none, so he turned his attention to the one on her head.

“You okay?” He muttered, rummaging in his pack for his first aid kit.

“Peachy,” Sic said, trying to sound cheerful but the way she was speaking through gritted teeth gave away the pain she was in. “Fucker got a crack at me with that stupid golf club.”

Boone tried to ignore the fury in his chest. “You might have a concussion. Just stay still.”

“Boone, I’m alright.”

“Six,” Boone paused, giving her a stern look.

“Okay, fine,  _ mom _ ,” Six rolled her eyes but she stopped squirming.

Boone ignored Betsy’s chuckle behind him. He checked Six over, bandaged the wound, and helped her up.

“Gave us a scare there,” Sterling clapped her on the back. “Impressive bit of work you did, though.”

Six chuckled. She was a little unsteady, but Boone kept close so she could use him for support if she needed to. 

He took more joy in cutting off Nephi’s head than he should’ve. Six grimaced when he did it but she held out the canvas bag for him anyway. Just like that, it was over.

~

Boone made Six go to the camp doctor and get checked out before they went and found Dhatri. Most of First Recon left Boone and Six at the gates with cheerful and casual hugs and slaps on the back. Betsy stuck around while Six got checked over, sitting with Boone outside the medical tent.

“You care about her a lot, huh?” Betsy said softly after a long silence.

Boone looked up at her, a little surprised. “Yeah, I do.”

“How’d you meet?”

“I was down in Novac, helping guard the town. She showed up one day.” Boone remembered it all so clearly. “I don’t know why she asked me to come with her. We didn’t even know each other. Maybe she was just sick of being alone. I think I was too, ‘cause I said yes. The rest, I guess, is history. Well, an insane history full of stupid decisions and things that would only ever happen to Six.”

Betsy laughed, “She’s crazy, but crazy in a good way I think.”

Boone couldn’t help but think of what she’d done to Benny. That had been crazy too, but not in a good way. It still haunted Boone a little, but he thought it haunted Six too. He couldn’t exactly blame her, though. He’d done worse for less. She had a vendetta and an anger problem.

Boone nodded slowly, “Yeah, she is. She’s a good person, though. Sometimes she does… questionable things, but she cares about what happens to people. She cares about what’s right.”

“You two argue like an old married couple,” Betsy was grinning from ear to ear.

Before Boone could respond, Six and the Doc appeared before them.

“She’s got a minor concussion. Normally I’d recommend no less than a week of rest, but I have a feeling she’s going to ignore that so just keep an eye on her and try to take it easy on her head.”

Boone nodded. “Thanks, Doc.”

The sun was setting and Six looked exhausted, so Boone said his goodbyes to Betsy and led her to the bunks they’d slept in the previous night.

“You’re being grumpy,” Six murmured once she’d gotten settled on the bottom bunk.

Boone looked at her, raising an eyebrow, “I am?”

She nodded and rolled over. “Did I scare you, today?”

“Yes,” Boone admitted.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I can’t remember ever having someone watching my back before you. I don’t always think things through. I never consider how it would affect other people if I got hurt.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Boone said after a long, thoughtful moment. “I know you, Six. You’re smarter than I give you credit for. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

She didn’t respond for a long while, so Boone climbed up onto his bunk and closed his eyes.

“Boone?” She whispered hoarsely.

“Hm?”

“Thanks for having my back.”

_ Always _ , he wanted to say, but he didn’t think he could keep that promise.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter includes attempted sexual assault so if that's something that triggers you, i'd recommend skipping it.

“Got any more good news for me?” Dhatri grinned when he saw them approaching. 

Boone handed him the bag which had been soaked through with blood.

“Well, well, well. Driver Nephi. Nothing to say, you son of a bitch? No tips on my golf swing?” Dhatri grimaced at the head, but his smile returned once he focused on Boone and Six again. “Lost a lot of good men to this psychopath. Morale's going to be better, now that he's gone. Here's the bounty I promised. I guess we can send 1st Recon down to Camp Forlorn Hope in a few days. They need all the help they can get there.”

“Glad we could help,” Six said. She seemed more sluggish than usual. Boone chalked it up to a concussion on top of the problems she already had as a result of getting shot in the head.

“That's two psychopaths dead. If you can bring down the third, there's a bonus in it for you.”

Six glanced at Boone and he nodded. “We’re in,” she said, grinning.

“Good to hear! Well, there’s just one left: Cook-cook,” Dhatri’s face went a little dark when he said the name. “ One thing I should tell you about Cook-Cook. The piece of shit is pure animal. He raped one of my snipers, and that makes this personal.”

Boone’s face changed too and Six could feel his anger. 

“Also... he's got a flamethrower, and he's damn good with it. From what I hear, he either rapes or burns every living thing he can get his hands on,” Dhatri looked haunted. “Only one man's gotten close to killing him, and that's Little Buster. So he says, anyway. Maybe it's bullshit, but I'd still ask him about it.”

“What do you know about this Buster guy?”

“Bounty hunter. Talks big. But he's still alive, so he can't be completely full of shit. I think he's out in the yard, waiting to claim a couple bounties.”

“Alright, I’m gonna go have a chat with him. Be back in a few minutes,” Six said, putting a hand on Boone's arm for just a moment.

Boone appreciated Six’s ability to read him. He let her go, trying to push his anger back.

“Keep an eye on,” Dhatri said, watching her leave. “I heard she got hurt yesterday and she seems fine enough, but I wouldn’t fight a fucker like Cook-cook at anything less than a hundred percent.”

“I will,” Boone said. He wasn’t about to let that sick bastard lay a finger on Six. “You said he raped one of the snipers…”

Dhatri nodded. “Betsy… She doesn’t talk about it but I’m worried about her.”

Boone clenched his fist. He was going to make this bastard pay. “Six and I’ll get him.”

“Just be careful,” Dhatri patted Boone on the shoulder before he walked away.

It wasn’t long before Six returned. She was moving a little slower than usual but Boone didn’t say anything. He wondered if they should wait a day or two, but he had a feeling Six wouldn’t want to.

“Learn anything?” He asked as they exited camp.

“Apparently he’s got a pet brahmin,” Six giggled. “Buster thought if maybe we took it out, it would piss him off and give us an edge.”

“Or just make him angrier,” Boone pointed out.

“Or that.” Six nodded. “Either way, it’s something.”

Boone slowed down and Six glanced back, looking a little worried.

“What's wrong?”

“Maybe we should wait a couple days,” Boone suggested. His gut was telling him Six wasn’t as okay as she was letting on. “He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

She screwed up her face in confusion. “Why?”

“You have a concussion on top of an already pretty serious head injury.”

“Boone, I appreciate you worrying about me but I feel fine. I wanna get this guy and I wanna do it soon.”

“I know, Six. I do too.”

“But?”

Boone sighed, “But you’re not at one hundred percent, even if you think you are. This guy is bound to be more dangerous than the last two.”

Her face softened for a moment and he almost thought she was going to give in, but then it hardened again and she shook her head. “I feel fine, Boone. Who knows how many people this guy has hurt? How many more he’ll hurt in the next few days if we don’t go now.”

Boone knew that pushing further would make her mad. Pushing further might force him to put words to the anxiety he was feeling right now.

“Fine, but we’re making a complete plan before you run in there.” His tone left no room for her to argue. 

“Fine,” She said and whirled around, marching forward with a new, angry determination.

~

They were both still mad when they reached Cook-cook’s camp. It was smaller than Nephi’s. There were only four or five Fiends hanging around a small fire. Boone was able to pick out Cook-cook through his scope pretty quickly.

“He’s wearing some pretty thick armor, might be hard to punch through it.” Boone lowered his rifle and glanced at Six.

She was on her stomach next to him with her binoculars out. 

“Fuck,” she muttered. “This isn’t going to be easy, is it?”

“No, probably not. What do you wanna do?”

She sighed and he could see her thinking. He wasn’t going to let her try anything unless she’d thought it through completely.

“We could wait ‘til dark,” she suggested. “I’m pretty stealthy and it’d be easier to sneak up when there’s no light. Most of them will probably be asleep. Maybe one or two guards. I should be able to take them all out silently, get the drop on Cook-cook. You back me up from here in case things go wrong.”

It was as good a plan as any. It covered each step and he trusted her skills.

“Fine. Guess we should settle in, then. We have a few hours till dark.”

~

It only took an hour for Six to get bored and antsy. She was drawing little pictures in the sand for a while. They’d sat in silence, both of them mad but not really knowing why.

“Do you ever take off your beret?” Six asked, finally breaking the silence.

“No,” Boone answered. He had his scope trained on the Fiends, making sure they didn’t come too close.

Six made a noise and he glanced at her questioningly.

“Tell me about yourself, Boone,” Six insisted. “I know almost nothing about you.”

“If you want,” he sighed. “It’s not really my thing. What do you wanna know?”

Six seemed to consider for a moment, “How do you feel about Manny Vargas?”

They hadn’t discussed Manny since they left Novac. 

Boone shrugged. “He was a good spotter.”

“Weren’t you friends?”

“Yes.”

“Not anymore?” 

“No,” Boone said, then sighed. “When Carla went missing, he was the first person I told. He tried to hide it, but I could tell: he was glad.”

Boone thought that would keep Six quiet but it only lasted a minute.

“Tell me about Carla,” Six said, and she sounded almost sad.

Boone was surprised. He hadn’t expected a question like that.

He lowered his rifle and shifted to face Six. “I met Carla while I was at the Strip on leave. She said I looked lost.”

Six looked shocked that he answered. She leaned in a little closer, listening closely, ready to offer her support if needed.

“She talked a lot. Suited me fine - I never know what to say. And listening to her, it could... make you forget,” Boone continued, despite himself. “She stuck out, pretty much everywhere we went. Like she was from a different time. A better time. I never met anyone like her.”

Six sighed after a few moments, “She sounds wonderful.”

“She was,” Boone agreed.

“I’m glad you have good memories with her. Must help a little, being able to remember the good.”

“I guess,” Boone shrugged again. “Do you remember anyone from before?”

Six hugged her knees to her chest. She looked small again.

“There are faces,” she said softly. “I feel… things… when I think about them. Things that make me think I must have loved them, but I can’t remember who they were to me.”

“I’m sorry.” Boone put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I hope they’re not waiting for me,” Six said, her voice just above a whisper. “I hope they’re dead or they hate me now. I know that sounds horrible but I just hope they’re not waiting on something that might never come back.”

“It’s not horrible,” Boone shook his head. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry I brought up Carla. I know it makes you sad to talk about her.”

“No, it’s okay. I should, maybe, talk about her more. I only ever think about losing her, but you’re right, there are good memories too.”

“I think I was married once,” Six said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

Boone glanced at her. “Oh?”

“I don’t remember much, but I remember a dress and a little apartment somewhere and I remember his face and everything I felt when I looked at him.”

“Maybe he’s out there right now, looking for you,” Boone said and he was surprised that he felt sad thinking about that.

If Six was married and her husband found her, there was nothing stopping her from leaving with him. Boone had grown strangely attached to that crazy courier.

“Maybe,” Six looked wistful. “If he’s out there, he’d be mad to learn I cheated on him.”

“What?”

“I slept with Benny, before I killed him,” Six looked away and Boone realized she felt ashamed of it. “Maybe it’s not my fault if I didn’t know. Maybe it doesn’t count, since I killed him. I don’t know. I don’t know why I told you that.”

“Why’d you sleep with him?” There was something in Boone's stomach when she said it that made him feel uncomfortable. 

It wasn’t about the sex. Boone had spent lots of time around soldiers and, while he didn’t like talking about his sex life, he wasn’t uncomfortable listening to others discuss it.

Six shrugged, “I don’t really know. I wanted to, I guess.”

“That's as good of a reason as any,” Boone said. 

“Maybe. Still feels like I did something wrong, though.”

“Well, I’m not one to judge,” Boone said. “You should try to rest while we have the chance. You’re gonna need all your strength when it gets dark.”

Six nodded her agreement and rolled over, leaving Boone alone with all his conflicting thoughts.

~

Boone woke Six up about an hour after dark.

“What’s it look like down there?” Six murmured after she yawned and stretched.

“Pretty quiet. There’s one guard out front and two sitting at the campfire. I think the rest are lying down somewhere.”

“Cook-cook?”

“Up on the second level,” Boone answered.

Six nodded, pulling a gun out of her pack that Boone hadn’t seen before. It was a 22mm pistol with a silencer. She clipped its holster to her belt and checked that her combat knife was still strapped to her thigh. Then she slipped off her duster. She’d be faster and quieter without it.

“You sure you want to do this?” Boone tried not to let his fear enter his voice. “If things go south, I might not be able to help you in time.”

Six nodded. “I know. I trust you to do whatever you can if it comes to that. I’ll be okay.”

“Alright. Be careful.”

“Yes,  _ mom _ ,” Six teased, her mischievous smirk returning to her face. 

Seeing her acting like her usual self made Boone feel better. Maybe he’d been overreacting this morning. Maybe she was fine.

He kept Six in his sights the whole way down. She was hard to keep track of, even when he was looking for her. She’d vanish completely for a few seconds, seconds that made Boone unconsciously hold his breath, then a bit of movement just ahead of her last position would allow him to exhale.

Six took out the first guard without issue. She snuck up behind him, sticking the knife in his throat with merciless efficiency. There was no struggle, no sound at all. He was dead long before Six gently lowered him to the ground.

Boone heard something move behind him. He took his eye away from the scope, searching for the source of the noise. He saw nothing in the dark, barren desert behind him; nothing but tumbleweeds and scraggly bushes.

A gunshot, not a silenced one, turned his attention back to Six. Something was wrong. Before he could look through the scope again, his rifle was torn from his grasp. He tried to roll away but a boot kicked him hard in the face. He tried to roll to his feet, but hands grabbed at his arms. He struggled and fought against them until something hard and metal hit him in the back of the head. It stunned him but didn’t knock him out. He felt it once more and then unconsciousness overtook him.

~

The first thing Boone was aware of was the cold, concrete that was pressed against his face. His head was pounding where he’d been struck. He was lying on his stomach on a rocky, destroyed floor.

Mentally, he replayed what happened, trying to understand where he was. He’d been hit, he realized now that it had been a gun that hit him. There’d been at least three, grabbing and kicking. They’d taken his gun. He’d heard a shot. 

_ Six! _ His blood ran cold. Had they shot her? Where was she? Was she dead? He’d been watching her so closely, he hadn’t noticed someone else sneaking up on him.

He tried to open his eyes and found that one of them was so swollen, he couldn’t get it open. He was closer to the fire he’d seen from afar. Three figures, Fiends probably, sat by it, talking and drinking.

“Idiots,” one of them said, laughing. “Didn’t even hear us approach ‘im.”

“That girl was a spitfire, though. She killed two of us before we spotted her,” chuckled a second one.

_ Six! _ Boone tried to remain still, seeing what he could see without them realizing he was awake. 

“What’d the boss do with her, anyway?” The first Fiend asked.

A third one snorted, “What the boss always does with pretty girls. Took her upstairs a few minutes ago. She was fighting him a lot, too. He’ll probably take his time with that one.”

Boone felt the rage overcome him. He moved slowly. Their backs were to him, the fools. If he could find a weapon, he could get them all and save Six before that bastard hurt her. He tried to keep his breathing under control. If he got too angry or started to panic, he’d be next to useless. Six needed him.

There was a bloody kitchen knife lying on the ground nearby. Boone didn’t want to think about what it had been used for last, he just grabbed it.

He inched up behind the Fiend in the middle of the group. As fast as his sore body would allow, he pressed the knife to the man’s throat, wrapping his other arm around his abdomen and pulling him from the makeshift bench.

“Any of you move and I slit his throat,” Boone growled, his voice sounding foreign to him. “Make a noise, and I kill him.”

Both of the others put their hands up and Boone could see the shaking of their hands and the dilation of their pupils. They were all chemmed up.

He spotted it, blood caking the metal parts. It was the silenced pistol Six had been holding before. Boone ignored the fearful knot in his stomach and snatched it quickly, not even checking to see if there were any bullets in it before he fired at the two in front of him. The first one took one to the throat, the second got hit in the shoulder and the stomach. Boone held the gun to his hostages head but it was empty. He slit the Fiends throat instead.

For a second, Boone stood there, breathless. He didn’t have time to catch his breath. Six was in trouble. He grabbed a gun off one of his kills and ran upstairs. There was a guard at the top of the stairs but Boone shot him, not caring about the noise. 

Turns out Cook-cook was too focused on trying to break Six and hadn’t noticed the noises. Boone rounded the corner, finding the makeshift bedroom. He spotted the man, now mostly undressed, over by the bed, his back to the entryway. Boone was about to start firing, but then he saw a small arm flail out, just to get snatched by the bigger man. If Boone fired carelessly, he could hit Six.

Boone tried to steady his breathing. He dropped the gun and charged with the knife instead. 

Cook-cook howled in pain when Boone stabbed him in the back. It didn’t do as much damage as he’d hoped. The Fiend reeled backward, knocking Boone in the head with his own head. Boone recoiled, dropping the knife. 

The man in front of him grabbed a gun off a table by the bed. Boone caught sight of Six, who was curled up in the fetal position on the bed. Her shirt had been torn away but her pants were still on. As good as a sign as any, not that it would last long once Cook-cook shot Boone.

Boone decided to take a chance and dove for the knife. The larger man swatted him away with a hefty punch to the side of his head. Boone fell on his side with a loud grunt. The Fiend raised his weapon towards Boone’s skull. 

This was it. It wasn’t how Boone had expected to go out. He had told himself he’d die before he let anything happen to Six and he supposed that was coming true.

“Boone!” Six’s scream was shrill.

After that, everything happened so fast that Boone didn’t even realize it was happening. At the same time that a small figure launched itself at Cook-cook, the Fiend turned and fired the gun. There were two simultaneous cries of pain and then the pair collapsed into a heap. 

Boone took too long to regain his senses. When he did, he scrambled forwards, dragging Six away from the man who’d tried to hurt her. 

Cook-cook was dead. A switchblade, like the sort Six usually kept hidden in her sleeve or pocket just in case, was sticking out of his throat. 

Six was still conscious but bleeding badly out of a bullet wound in her shoulder. 

“Fuck,” Boone grunted. 

He lifted her awkwardly back onto the bed, trying to ignore the cry of pain she made. 

“I know Six, just hang on,” Boone tried to soothe her. He was starting to panic but he had to keep calm long enough to help her. 

He lifted her slightly, checking her back for an exit wound. There was none, so the bullet was still in her shoulder. 

Before he laid her back down, he saw them: long scars across her back. He’d seen scars like that before, they came from a whip. Mostly, he’d seen them on soldiers who’d survived the legion. The thought, just the possibility, that Six had been a slave, made Boone’s blood run cold.

No time to think of that now. It wouldn’t matter if Six bled out. He needed to get the bullet out.

Boone laid her down and began to search for supplies. Their stuff was in a pile downstairs, mostly intact. The Fiends hadn’t raided it yet. Boone found his medkit and Six’s medkit and high-tailed it back to her side.

“Six,” Boone tried to sound calm and collected, “This is gonna hurt but I need you to stay awake.”

He knew it’d been difficult for her to stay awake. The pain and the bloodloss combined would be difficult for her to manage. There was no other choice.

He pulled out a pair of forceps and held them over the flame of his lighter to disinfect them. Then, grimacing, he plunged the forceps into the wound, grabbing hold of the bullet. Six screamed and tried to thrash but Boone held her down. He managed to pull the bullet out and drop it on the floor. Six groaned.

“Boone,” she managed. 

“I’m here,” he took her clammy hand in his. “You’re gonna be fine.”

She was still bleeding and bleeding a lot. Boone found one of his shirts in his pack and pressed it to the wound, putting enough pressure on that he was afraid he’d hurt her.

It took a minute, but the bleeding slowed and Boone applied a stimpack and some med-x. She was barely awake, murmuring incoherently to him. The med-x worked it’s magic and before he knew it, Six was unconscious.

Boone carefully bandaged her up before tending to his own wounds. He definitely had a concussion and it’d probably take a few days for him to be able to open his eye. His whole body ached, but he’d live.

Six would live, too, he thought. His field medicine wasn’t top-notch, but if he could get her back to camp in the morning, someone would be able to patch her up completely. He threw a blanket over her and made sure they had all their stuff together. 

He had no choice but to try to stay awake all night. They were in the middle of Fiend territory. Normally they’d split watch shifts during the night, but Boone didn’t expect Six to regain consciousness for a while. He sat against the bed and held his rifle as tight as he could, as if the sheer force of his grip would keep him awake and keep Six alive. 

~

Boone managed to stay awake most of the night but he was afraid he would have to take jet or buffout to get Six home. 

She was still unconscious when the sun rose. She was sweaty and clammy and Boone was worried. He needed to get her somewhere safe and soon. 

Finally, Six woke up. She was slow and groggy and in pain but she was awake and alive. Boone gave her another dose of med-x and helped her into a shirt. He made a make-shift sling to help keep the weight off her injured shoulder. 

Her eyes were glassy and she seemed confused and Boone worried she’d hit her head again and made her pre-existing concussion worse.

She was aware enough to walk, though. Boone shifted some of the heavier things in her pack to his. She was able to walk on her own most of the way but Boone was there to support her when she needed it and they took rests often. It was fortunate that they’d already cleared most of the enemies between Camp McCarren and Cook-cooks hideout. It was slow going but that was the price they had to pay. 

Six was near-silent throughout the trip, save for the occasional “I need to rest,” and “Is there more water?”

She looked pale and sick and it concerned Boone. Six was always chatty, always itching for something to do. He found himself thinking over all the worst possibilities. Had she screwed up her memory again? Did she know where she was? Did she remember him? He tried not to let it get to him. He tried to remind himself that everything would be fine but his fear was lurking in the back of his head. 

When they made it back safely, Dhatri found them before they’d had a chance to find him. 

They were in the medical tent, finally getting proper treatment when he appeared in the entryway, clearly relieved. 

“You two look like shit,” he announced and Six, with a fresh staple keeping the wound in her shoulder closed and a real sling keeping the weight off it, laughed out loud. Boone felt better immediately upon hearing the noise. 

“Well, we’re alive and Cook-cook isn’t,” Boone said on a sigh. 

“That’s what I like to hear,” Dhatri grinned. “When you didn’t make it back last night, well we all started to worry.”

“Things didn’t go according to plan,” Six frowned and the expression was so alien on her face that Boone was afraid for her again.

Boone tossed the sack with the dead Fiends head to Dhatri. Despite himself, Boone had enjoyed decapitating that one. That’s what he got for messing with Six.

“Yeah... that's Cook-cook. Did he always smell like this? Even before he was dead? And the Fiends let this guy touch their food?” Dhatri grimaced. “Well... this is payback for at least one of my troopers. She'll be glad to know he's dead. Here's your caps.”

“Glad we could help,” Six said.

“You've been one hell of a stroke of good luck, you know that? Those three scumbags probably killed twenty NCR troopers. And you bring them down alone.” Dhatri patted Boone on the back and went to shake Six’s good hand. “Take care of yourselves, alright? I’ll see you around.”

Boone and Six only nodded, both too sore and exhausted for much more. Boone wondered if things would have gone better if they had waited a day or two, but he knew all too well that thinking like that would only drive him crazy.

“Hey, Boone,” Six said softly, a tenderness in her voice that he’d never heard. “Thank you. You saved me back there. I… well, I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there.”

Boone shrugged, unable to decide on the proper response. “We’re partners. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

“I know. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, either, Boone. I’m just glad you were there.”

Boone put a comforting arm around his partner and she leaned her head on his shoulder. It was strange. It was the most physical he’d been with… well, anyone since Carla died, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was then that Boone realized how much he missed being touched in any way.

Out of nowhere, Six started laughing. Boone looked at her like she was insane. 

“What’s so funny?”

“We forgot about the fucking brahmin thing,” Six giggled.

Despite himself, Boone chuckled.


	6. Chapter 6

Arcade lost his mind when Boone and Six stumbled back into the Lucky 38, both of them looking like they’d lost a fight with the business end of a lawn mower. Despite the once over they’d gotten from the NCR doctor, he insisted on giving his own check-up. Both Boone and Six had concussions. Boone’s eye was still swollen, although it was better than it had been. Six had been shot and there were bruises on her wrists and hips that she refused to explain. Boone knew, and he understood why she didn’t want to talk about them.

The doctor ordered at least two weeks of rest for the both of them and wouldn’t even hear of them venturing any further than Camp McCarren during that time.

The first few days were actually kind of nice. It was the first time in as long as Boone could remember that he didn’t have anything pressing to do. He washed dishes after meals, did laundry, cleaned, and maintained his rifle and the other weapons that sat around the ‘38. It was nice to just relax a little. 

Six spent a lot of time fiddling with that robot she’d found in Primm, ED-E, she called it. She was pretty sure she was close to getting it working again. Boone accompanied her on runs to Mick and Ralphs so she could get a few more screws or some wires or whatever other replacement parts she needed. 

Sometimes, Boone would sit with Six on the floor of her bedroom and watch her work. She’d explain what each part was for and what she was doing with it and why. None of it really made sense to Boone but he listened anyway.

By the end of the first week, both of them were losing their minds. Six didn’t like not doing something. She didn’t know how to relax and do nothing. Being told not to do anything was worse. Six was the sort of person that would rebel against a direct order just to spite the fact that someone dared tell her what to do. Boone had wondered if she’d ever enlist in the NCR. She’d offhandedly mentioned it a few times, but her issues with authority made that pretty unlikely. 

When Six was antsy, she started arguments. It wasn’t that she sought someone out specifically to start an argument, it was just that she was bored and couldn’t seem to help but push people’s buttons. Two nights in a row, dinner at the comically large table had turned into a screaming match between Six and Arcade about one thing or another. Cass and Six had at least three drunken brawls, one of which Boone had to break up. Six had even managed to get on Veronica and Raul’s nerves, and Boone had never seen them fight with anyone.

The only person Six hadn’t fought with was Boone himself. She knew his buttons. They both knew that if she wanted to she could piss him off more than anyone, but she never did. He was grateful for it, but he didn’t understand.

One night, while Six and Cass were out drinking and gambling, Arcade had conducted a search of the master bedroom, convinced that there was another source for Six’s irritability besides being cooped up while she healed. Boone wasn’t the biggest fan of going through her things, but he’d seen enough shitty coping mechanisms in the NCR to understand the reasoning behind it. 

They found a lot of empty liquor bottles, but Boone attributed that more to Six not cleaning than anything else. There was a stash of chems in one of the wardrobes, but it was pretty full and didn’t look like Six had really touched it. The only thing that suggested a problem was a few empty med-x syringes that Arcade had prescribed her, both for her headaches and the gunshot wound.

When Six came back, Arcade told her she didn’t need to be taking med-x anymore. He said it like a doctor to a patient, but something in his tone left no room for argument. Boone thought Six looked annoyed, but she didn’t protest and surrendered the rest of her med-x supply so Arcade could pack them into medkits for the crew.

Finally, Arcade deemed them both well enough to get back out there. 

It was business as usual. Six was ready and roaring. She had maps and plans all ready to go. Boone was ready, his rifle clean and his med-kit restocked. Despite not being much of a fighter, Arcade insisted on coming with them this time around. Six had rolled her eyes and called him mom, but she made no complaints.

Boone liked Arcade. Sure, he was kind of annoying. He talked a lot, made a lot of sassy remarks, and couldn’t just let things go, but he took good care of Six’s rag-tag band of strays. When she talked to Arcade, Six smiled and laughed at his jokes. Boone didn’t really have a sense of humor, so it was nice to hear her laugh once in a while.

They’d gone back to camp McCarren. After taking out the other Fiends, Six was eager to finish the job. They got word of a Fiend hide-out where the last leader, a guy called Motor-Runner, was holed up. 

Arcade preached caution the whole way to Vault 3, but even Boone was eager to rid the wasteland of the last Fiend leader. 

Six somehow managed to convince the lady guarding the vault door that they were Great Khans from Red Rock Canyon there to sell them chems. It got them through the door, but they’d have to get back out again. 

As they walked through the vault, Boone got antsier and antsier. There were a lot of Fiends here, and only three of them. The odds weren’t great, especially with Boone's rifle being next-to-useless in close quarters. 

Boone didn’t know what Six’s plan had been, but it went wrong. They reached Motor-Runner. He and Six talked for a while. She was gauging how many Fiends were left outside of this hideout, disguising it as small talk. When the time came to hand over the supposed chems, things went south.

Instead of giving them chems, the trio gave them a lot of bullets. They had to fight their way to the captives, which was mostly hiding around corners and taking pot-shots wherever there was an opening. It was too close-quarters for grenades, but it didn’t stop Six from tossing them into rooms and shutting the doors before they went off. 

Against the odds, they didn’t die. They didn’t really even get hurt, just a little singed. Six was covered in blood but a panicked once over from Arcade revealed it wasn’t hers. 

Their successful assassination and rescue mission earned them a night of drinking and pleasant conversation at McCarren. Even Boone had fun.

Not content to stop there, Six took on the interrogation of a captured Legion Centurion. Lieutenant Boyd was convinced Six would have to rough him up, but she spent ten minutes alone with the man and managed to coax more information out of him than Boyd had in days. Boyd was astounded. Even Arcade was shocked. Boone was impressed, but not surprised. Six had a way of figuring people out. She knew exactly what buttons to push within the first four seconds of talking to someone.

The interview confirmed what Colonel Hsu had theorized, which was that the Legion had a spy within the camp feeding them information. Their best lead was some break-ins at one of the communication towers, so they decided to stake it out.

Arcade was not used to sitting still for so long. Six wasn’t great at it either, but if she had a purpose, she could keep focused on it for a while. Arcade was a doctor, not a soldier or a mercenary. He chattered on and on uselessly until Six told him to shut up so he wouldn’t give them away.

Sometime after midnight, a soldier Boone didn’t quite recognize entered the com towers. Six gestured for Arcade and Boone to follow and slowly made her way in. Boone took up the rear, ensuring the door was shut as silently as possible. They didn’t want to alert the spy.

Boone could hear the whir of the radio and a distorted voice. The responding voice was familiar.

“That’s Captain Curtis,” Six hissed. 

“Charges are set. Detonation will occur as the train leaves the station. Over.” Curtis said, and then the radio went silent. 

The implications were clear. Six moved fast, surprising Curtis. She had him on the ground before he could react, arms trapped behind his back while Boone patted him down and discarded all his weapons. He struggled and protested, but Six was a lot stronger than she looked. 

Once Curtis was tied down and completely incapacitated, she instructed Arcade to keep an eye on him while she and Boone dealt with the monorail bomb.

Six found the bomb quickly enough, nestled in a vent. Boone couldn’t make heads or tails of the wiring and from the way she hesitated, Boone didn’t think Six was any better off.

“Six, we don’t have a lot of time before this thing gets going,” Boone said, trying not to let anxiety into his voice.

“Yeah, I know,” Six snapped. “I don’t exactly know everything there is to know about explosives.”

“Well, I hope you know something because we’re gonna blow up otherwise.”

She let out a frustrated sigh, wringing her hands before muttering to herself, “It’s just a machine that might explode in my face, how hard could it be.” That was reassuring. “Okay, if that wire goes there, then logically…”

Boone didn’t understand what she was saying, he just braced himself for an explosion. It never came. Six pulled out some wires, her whole body tensing, ready for it all to go wrong. Instead, the timer stopped. They both relaxed at the same time. Six began to laugh in that manic, hysterical way she sometimes did at what felt like an inappropriate time.

~

After Hsu congratulated them, Arcade declared he had had enough adventure to last him the rest of the week and promptly escorted them back to the Lucky 38. They all slept like the dead. Boone himself slept in, well into the afternoon, which was odd for him. 

That evening, Boone thought Six was avoiding him. Well, he didn’t think she was avoiding him, per se. He couldn’t think of a reason why she would be. She was just Six; flighty and confusing and a slave to whatever impulses or whims she had at the time. When she ducked her head into the master bedroom as he rounded the corner, he thought she was just busy tinkering. When she shuffled past his room on her way to the bathroom, he barely even noticed.

It wasn’t until they were sitting at the dinner table, Cass serving up some kind of meat that looked more burned than edible, Boone realized she wasn’t meeting his eye.

They were sitting directly across from each other. Everyone else was talking and drinking and being generally boisterous, but Six was strangely silent. Usually, she was more than happy to partake in conversation and drinking. She wasn’t really eating, just pushing her food around on the plate, and she was chewing her bottom lip the way she did when she was deep in thought. Her eyes stared unseeingly at the wall behind his head. 

Boone cocked his head to the side, trying to catch her eye. She averted her eyes immediately, looking down at the table instead. 

_ So this is how it’s gonna be, huh? _ He thought. 

Sometimes Six frustrated him. Actually, she frustrated him a lot, and one of the reasons for that was her refusal to share what she was thinking. For reasons he couldn’t quite fathom, he thought of Carla. Maybe it was just because Carla had been the last woman he was close with. 

Carla had always been an open book. He’d always known what she was thinking and feeling. She’d worn her heart on her sleeve. Boone had never had to guess what was going on in her head. He could always tell, and even if he couldn’t, she’d just state it plainly.

Six, on the other hand, hid behind half-truths and excuses. She could read everyone else in seconds, but no one could read her. She could get in everyone else's heads, but she refused anyone access to hers. Boone never knew what she was going to do or say next, and he certainly didn’t know how to get her to share her thoughts.

Finally, Boone spoke up.

“Six?” he couldn’t help the small glare he shot her from behind his sunglasses. “You alright over there?”

The table went silent. Six refused to look up. 

“Fine,” she deadpanned. “Just thinking.”

“You’ve been quiet all day,” Arcade put in, and Boone was grateful it wasn’t just him. “Something’s bothering you.”

Six’s eyes narrowed at the two men, but the table remained silent, waiting for her to answer.

“Just thinking about the chip,” she said finally.

“That’s it?” Cass seemed underwhelmed.

“ _ That's it? _ ” Six hissed. “It’s just the object someone tried to murder me over, no biggie.”

Cass put her hands up in surrender. “Sheesh, I’m sorry.”

“Look, I don’t understand exactly what it is and I’m certainly not a big fan of being anyone’s goddamned pawn again, but I know for a fact House has something big stashed under Fortification Hill,” Six began.

_ Oh _ , Boone thought.  _ That’s why she’s been avoiding me _ .

“No,” Boone said. “You’re not going in there unless it’s to destroy it.”

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk about it,” Six yelled. “You won’t even hear me out!”

“You expect me to be okay with you just waltzing in there?” Boone shouted back. He was on his feet now. “What’s gonna stop them from slapping a slave collar on your neck and hauling you off somewhere?”

“You have zero faith in me, Boone! Zero trust!” Six was on her feet too, and she looked ready to start throwing things. “Whatever House has down there, it’s a big fucking deal! Seems worth a little risk to me!”

“Fine, so we go in and we destroy it! Why don’t you like that plan, huh?”

“You know there are too many unknowns! You might be willing to just roll over and die, Boone, but some of us are looking to the future, one which this stupid chip could actually make better!”

“So you won’t die killing legion but you will die over some stupid Vegas power struggle, is that it?”

That did it. That was enough to send Six over the edge. Her plate, burnt meat and all, flew at his head. He ducked, letting it crash into the wall behind him. Her beer bottle, still half full, was close behind, shattering against the wall. Then she was gone. Boone hadn’t seen her storm off, but he heard angry footsteps and the chime of the elevator. 

Everyone else was left staring at him, and he suddenly felt extremely guilty. 

“Nice one,” Veronica said softly, and Boone shot her a glare.

Frustrated, Boone slammed a fist against the table before he stalked off to his own room.

~

Boone laid awake for hours, long after everyone else had gone to sleep. He listened, waiting in anxious silence. The elevator dinged, and he was on his feet, opening the door to his room a crack to peek out.

Six trudged slowly from the elevator to the master bedroom. Her hand was on the doorknob, but she hesitated, glancing toward his room. She stopped when she saw him, sighing.

“I’m sorry,” she said, just above a whisper. 

Boone nodded, “I’m sorry too.”

She nodded back, then opened her door and went in. Boone felt a little better, but there was still an uncomfortable pit in his stomach.

~

Boone woke up early the next morning. Raul and Veronica were up. Raul usually got up early and Veronica had a strange sleeping schedule that Boone couldn’t quite keep track of. They were sitting at the dining table when Boone came in to get coffee. He nodded a greeting to them, still feeling a little guilty about the scene he and Six had made the previous evening. They waved in a friendly way before they returned to their quiet conversation.

Boone wanted to talk to Six, maybe to apologize again. She wouldn’t be up for hours, though, knowing her. He’d have to leave it alone.

The morning went on, then turned to afternoon. Six still didn’t come out of the room. Boone mentioned it to Arcade, who shrugged.

“She probably got royally wasted last night, so I imagine she’s sleeping off her hangover,” he said.

Boone supposed he could be right, but he had seen her, albeit briefly, before she’d gone to bed. She hadn’t seemed drunk.

In the early evening, when even Cass had risen from her sleep of the dead, Boone decided to check on her. His gut said something was wrong, and he trusted his gut. He knew Six well enough to know she could be stupid and impulsive sometimes.

He opened the door to the master bedroom. It was dark. Rex wasn’t there, or at least Boone couldn’t see the glow of his braincase anywhere. Boone felt himself tense. Something felt off.

“Six, you alive in here?” 

No response. He moved slowly towards the bed, squinting in the darkness. He had good vision, even at night, but the only light in the room was coming from the cracked door. He was halfway across the room when she realized Six wasn’t in the bed. She wasn’t there at all. Her pack and guns were missing from their place by the door. Her duster wasn’t crumpled on the floor in the usual place she tossed it when she came home. Boone flicked the lights on, confirming the emptiness of the room.

“Shit,” Boone grunted, storming back to his room.

“What?” Arcade asked, poking his head out of the lounge. 

Boone had his gun and his pack. “Six is gone. I’m going after her.”

“What?” Arcade repeated dumbly. “Where is she?”

“I can take a guess,” Boone said.

Arcade moved to block the elevator. “Wait, Boone, let's think about this for a second.”

“There’s nothing to think about, Gannon,” Boone spat out. “She isn’t going in there alone.”

“Boone,” Arcade sighed. “Six probably left hours before any of us were up. Who knows how far away she is now. You’ll never catch up with her in time to stop her.”

“Maybe not, but maybe I can save her.” Boone tried to push past Arcade but the other man was surprisingly strong, remaining directly in Boone's path. “Move, dammit.”

“No, you’ll go in there guns blazing and get her killed. Six isn’t always smart, I’ll give you that, but she’s charismatic. If anyone can get in and out of there alive, it’s her.”

Boone stopped, glaring at Arcade. “It’s a trap, Arcade. It has to be.”

“You’re right, it might be,” Arcade relaxed a little, but still looked ready to block Boone if he tried for the elevator again. “It’s a risk, but I think Six feels like it’s one she has to take. Have a little faith in her, Boone.”

_ You have zero faith in me, Boone! Zero trust! _ Her words during their fight echoed in his mind. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but she was right that he didn’t trust her enough. He couldn’t see past his hate for the Legion, couldn’t see a future other than dying at their hands. Six was thinking bigger. She was considering the fate of New Vegas, the fate of the Mojave. No wonder she was stressed and anxious. That was a lot of weight to place on one woman’s shoulders. 

Boone sagged, letting his pack slide off his shoulder and onto the floor. “You’re right, I guess. She still shouldn’t have gone alone.”

“I agree, but there’s nothing we can do now. We’ll give her a few days, okay? If she’s not back then, we’ll go look for her.”

Boone nodded begrudgingly, before trudging back to his room with his tail between his legs. He was still angry, but Arcade was right. There was no way he could catch up with her before she reached Cottonwood Cove and if he went in there guns blazing, he’d probably get her killed. Now he just had to wait and hope.

~

It was near two in the morning, three days later, when Six came back. Boone was awake, cleaning his rifle, when he heard the elevator ding. He opened the door and went into the hall.

She looked exhausted but he didn’t see blood on her clothes or skin.

She looked up at him and sighed, “We can argue about it in the morning, okay? I just want to get some sleep.”

Boone followed her into her room anyway. She dropped her pack and weapons on the floor in a heap and collapsed on the bed. Boone went to her, sitting on the edge of the bed and beginning to untie the laces of her boot. 

“What are you doing?” She squinted at him.

“Apologising,” he said.

She nodded, letting her head fall back. She was shaking just slightly, and it took Boone until he’d gotten both boots off and worked her duster over her arms to realize she was crying. 

“What happened?”

Six curled into herself, refusing to face him.

“Nothing,” she said, but her voice sounded like it was going to break.

“Six,” the softness in his voice surprised him.

“They didn’t touch me. Caesar wanted me to destroy whatever was in House's vault. I didn’t, but I told him I did and he believed me. Now there’s hundreds of activated securitrons underneath the Fort, just waiting for the command. It’s a hell of a trump card.”

“Okay,” Boone nodded. “I can’t imagine Caesar just let you leave.”

“Yeah well, he wants me to kill House.”

“Are you going to?”

Six scoffed. “Not in Caesar’s name, no. I told him exactly where he can shove those ‘orders’. He didn’t like that, but he didn’t kill me either. His goddamn mistake.”

Boone didn’t know what to say. Part of him was proud of her, but it scared him too. They knew her, now. Knew where she lived, who she was. The Legion wasn’t very forgiving. If Six disobeyed, and she was bound to, there was going to be hell to pay. Still, it wasn’t like Six to let a few threats, even from a powerful warlord, scare her.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Everything I can to stop the Legion,” she said simply. “I want to hack Caesar’s head off myself.”

It wasn’t as though she had liked the Legion before, but this felt different; more intense.

“Somethings changed,” Boone said, the only way he could voice the thought.

Six curled further into herself. “I remembered something.”

Boone remembered the scars he’d seen on her back. He’d wondered if they came from Legion, but he’d let it go, hoping it was something she’d never have to remember. 

“I was there,” she whispered. “I’d been there before.”

She didn’t need to explain herself. Boone understood. He didn’t need another reason to kill Legionnaires, but he had it anyway. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably my favorite chapter so far. it's kinda angsty but ya know.

They were too far past Novac to go back when Six’s headache hit. It was a bad one, Boone could tell. He’d anticipated it, seeing the way she rubbed at her eyes that morning and scratched at the scar. She didn’t say anything, not even when she started to move slower, lag behind a little. 

Boone finally stopped her when she tripped on a small rock and dropped like a stone, unable to catch herself. He understood a desire to work oneself to the bone, but she was going to get them killed if she couldn’t shoot straight or walk right.

He’d helped her up, made sure she wasn’t hurt, and insisted he help her to the ranger station that wasn’t far ahead. She’d tried to wave him off but relented when he draped her arm over his shoulder. Her cheek bumped against his chest and he could feel the way her teeth were gritted against the pain.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“Worse than usual,” she grunted. “Worse than most of the bad ones.”

“Should’ve said something sooner,” he said, but his tone wasn’t harsh, just concerned.

“Didn’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not.”

The station was empty. Boone could smell the smoke on the air. It was bad news. 

He wanted Six to just sit while he checked it out, but she chugged a bottle of water and half a shot of med-x and moved to follow him. He wanted to protest, but Six wouldn’t be left behind.

The inside of the building smelled like char and rot and Boone gagged when he went in. Six covered her nose with her sleeve. The bodies had been butchered. It was bloody and brutal.

“Legion?” Six managed, between horrified gasps and coughs.

Boone shrugged, “Who else?”

She staggered, pressing her palm to her temple. 

“Wait outside,” Boone instructed.

For once, she listened. It almost made him worry more. She doesn’t usually take orders, not even from him. 

All Boone found inside the station is a holotape, which he plays using Six’s pip-boy when he goes outside. She had her head in her hands, sitting in the dirt when he came out. He started making camp. It was getting close to dark and Six was in no state to travel any further. She glanced at him but said nothing. 

“I’ll take first watch,” Boone said. “You should rest.”

“Nah,” Six said. “Won’t be able to sleep. I’ll stay up for a bit.” She took his hand, squeezing it.

She did sleep, though. The med-x and a few sips of Cass’ moonshine had her passed out, snoring on her bedroll in an hour. Boone tried to ignore the way his skin burned where she touched it.

~

“How’s your head?” Boone asked when he woke up.

It was just after dawn and Six was sitting near his bedroll, fiddling with her guns.

“Better,” she shrugged. There was a glint in her eye that Boone couldn’t quite place. “Guess what I saw while you were snoozing?”

“What?”

“Guess,” she whined and Boone suppressed a smile. It had been too long since she’d acted like this, like herself.

Boone shrugged. “Whatdya want from me, Six?”

She shot him a petulant look, but she couldn’t keep the secret for long. “I saw a few Legionnaires heading south. Climbed up on the ridge and saw smoke in the distance. I think there’s a raiding party camped pretty close.”

This time, Boone did smile. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

~

Boone counted five legionnaires through his scope. Six concurred as she looked through her binoculars. They were perched on a ridge just above the camp.

They had two captives. Six said they looked like Powder Gangers. 

“Plan?” He asked. He didn’t think she had one, as per usual. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her again.

“Cover me,” she grinned. 

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue. He watched her through his scope as she moved down the ridge slowly. Even in the sun, she was stealthy. He wondered where she’d learned to move like that. How’d she learned to go unseen, even in broad daylight? He’d ask, but he doubted she’d know the answer.

Six’s version of a signal was shooting. Boone was ready, but he still never quite knew when the shooting was about to start. 

She caught them by surprise, sneaking around one of the tents and shooting one guard in the back of the neck. He dropped immediately. The next closest guard started to run for her, but Boone got him in the stomach then the shoulder, dropping him. Six moved from her cover, taking down a third man before he could get close. Boone took the last two down in two consecutive shots. It had been simple, easy. Boone was amazed it had worked out so well.

He followed Six’s path down the ridge, significantly louder and more noticeable than she’d been. She was untying the two captives. They seemed wary of their rescuers and took off without so much as a thanks.

“That was easy,” Six grinned. 

Boone nodded. “They didn’t put up much of a fight. I’d guess there’s still a few more in the area, though. We should be careful.”

“Aren’t we always?”

Boone didn’t respond, just gave her a look.

“Pisses me off that Legion slavers can just operate on NCR turf like that,” he said, out of the blue. Six glanced up at him, but she waited for him to finish. “If we hadn't caught up to them they'd probably have had a clear path to the river. No one to stop them. There should be patrols. Checkpoints. We got greedy, overstretched. Now our own territory isn't secure.”

“We got ‘em this time,” Six reassured.

~

They headed back towards Novac. Six wanted to tell the old retired ranger there what had happened to Ranger Station Charlie. 

Boone knew Six hated giving bad news, but he admired her insistence on doing it herself anyway. He’d offered. He’d given people more than his fair share of bad news in the past. She turned down the offer flat, insisting that it was her job. She’d offered to check up on the station in the first place, so it was only right that she delivers the verdict herself.

Afterward, they headed to Nelson. The place, Boone had heard, was overflowing with Legion. There was an NCR blockade close to it, and Six was determined to offer them any assistance she could.

Sometimes, he didn’t know how she was still so good. Six had every reason to give up on the world, every reason to call it every man for himself, and go off on her own. She had no ties to the NCR, at least that she was aware of, so she had no reason to help them. She had no ties to Vegas or the Mojave, yet she still stayed, trying to help.

Here she was, warring with herself over the power she held in the Platinum Chip, trying desperately to figure out which road was the right one to go down.

Boone didn’t know what she was doing to him, but seeing her push on, despite what she’d been put through, it made him think that maybe his suicide mission was selfish. When he’d gone through hell, he’d wanted nothing more than for all the pain to go away. When Six went through hell, she did everything she could to make sure nobody else had to suffer the way she did. At her very core, she was good.

“Boone?” She had stopped and turned to look at him, startling him out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?” he grunted, looking around. They were almost to Nelson.

“I-I,” she stuttered. She was always so confident and direct. Something was on her mind. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Nothing too strenuous, I hope,” Boone deadpanned. 

Her mouth and eyes widened in shock, “Was that a joke? Did Craig ‘I hate everything’ Boone just crack a joke?”

He just looked at her expectantly. 

“Gosh, I don’t even know if I should say now,” her tone was humorous but she wasn’t smiling. “Seems a pity to sully this moment with my anxious thoughts.”

“What's on your mind, Six?”

She looked at her feet. “I’ve been starting to remember  _ pieces _ . I know I told you this, but I remember being inside Legion territory.”

Boone nodded. He remembered the night she’d come back from the Fort. She’d seemed so scared and small and her admission had confirmed what he’d already suspected.

“I don’t remember it all, thankfully, but… what I do remember…” she kicked the dirt. “Fuck, Boone, I never want to go back there. I never want to be in that hell again.”

Boone remained silent. She wasn’t done yet, but she was wrestling with herself.

“I have a favor to ask,” she said finally. “You’re not going to like it, but it’s important to me.”

“Anything,” Boone said, and he was surprised to realize he meant it. 

She gave him a look that said  _ I hope you’re sure about that _ before she spoke again. “Boone, if something goes wrong and they get me, I want… I want you to…”

Boone’s blood ran cold. Six refused to meet his eyes when he looked at her, grim understanding written across his face. 

She didn’t know why a question like that would hurt him, she couldn’t. He’d never told her about Carla’s death. She’d asked once, in the first few days of them traveling together, but he’d shut her down and she never brought it up again. 

“If they get me, Boone,” she repeated, insisting on getting the words out properly. “I want you to kill me. I’d rather die than be there again.”

Boone clenched his fist, trying to keep his breathing even. “Six, you can’t ask that of me.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but--”

“No,” he said, sounding angrier than he meant to. It wasn’t Six’s fault, but he wanted to throw something at her anyway. “Anything, anything but that.”

“Boone,” Six began but he pushed past her, moving towards Nelson. 

She followed, eyes downturned, and Boone was already starting to feel like he’d just kicked a puppy.

~

“Hold up there.” A man with a thick beard and a ranger uniform called to them from up ahead. “This area is locked down by the NCR military until we can dislodge some Legion snakes from Nelson.”

Six, who’d been lagging behind the rest of the way there, moved ahead of Boone to greet the man. She hadn’t spoken to him for at least half an hour and she didn’t even glance at him as she went by. It wasn’t like he hadn’t earned it, but it still stung a bit.

“I’m Courier Six,” she said, “and this is my partner, Boone.”

“Oh, heck, I've heard of you two. Supposed to be a pair of regular heroes or something, ain't that right?” The man's eyes widened in surprise. “But maybe you're a little too... ‘reputable’ to get involved in some dirty work for the Republic.”

“What seems to be the trouble?” Six asked, but Boone could tell this guy was already getting on her nerves.

“Hell, what ain't the trouble with the Legion? This time, they jumped the camp in Nelson while the troopers were setting up. Captured a bunch of gear and took the town. Couple of troopers too. Got 'em crucified down near the center of town.”

Six tensed. “Why don’t you try to rescue them?”

“Back at ‘Ranger School’, they taught us not to run headlong into a battle when you're outnumbered ten to one.” The man talked as though he knew better than everyone around him and it was really starting to piss Boone off. “You want to go down there and try to haul those crippled boys off those poles, you're dumber than you look.”

Six glanced back at Boone, and he saw the fire in her eyes. Their fight, then those hostages, and now this infuriating conversation, they were all combining to make a really pissed off Six, and Boone couldn’t think of much that was more dangerous.

“Are you interested in cracking jokes or getting something done?” Her voice dropped low and slow, and Boone could see the effort it was taking for her to sound calm.

The ranger's eyebrows went up in pleasant surprise. “Well, I'll be damned. Looks like you've got some dirt in you after all. We clear out the hostages and they lose their advantage. They're down in a clearing, crucified on some telephone poles. I'll cover you from the ridge. Just make it quick. These boys should be put out of their misery, not plinked to death with some old varmint rifle. And don't get any dreamy notions about playing the hero and dragging those boys out. You'll get swarmed. Now let's go.”

Six glared at his back when he turned around before she turned to Boone. “Go to the ridge with him and cover me.”

“What are we doing, Six?” Boone grabbed her wrist, a little more forcefully than he’d meant to. 

She tensed and he immediately loosened his grip, but he wasn’t about to let her walk away. 

“We’re going to wait until nightfall, and then I’m going to deal with this.” She was speaking through gritted teeth. 

“To hell with mercy killing. We're getting those guys out of there”

“I have a plan, okay? Just follow my lead.”

With that, she tore her arm away from him and stormed off. Boone hated it when she was mad at him. It seemed to be happening a lot lately.

~

Nightfall came less than an hour later. Boone didn’t know what the hell Six was up to, but he didn’t like sitting on a ridge with Ranger Milo who wasn’t even willing to try to rescue those troops. He watched them with his scope. 

A figure came into view. It was just a shadow, but Boone knew it was Six. He kept his scope trained on the nearby guards, in case one of them spotted her. 

“The hell is she doing?” Milo hissed. 

She was untying the troopers, lifting each one down from the crucifix carefully. Boone’s heart swelled. 

“The right thing,” Boone said, shooting the man a glare. 

Six almost had the last trooper down when one of the Legionnaires sounded the alarm. Boone took the shot, cutting it short, but it was too late. For a moment, Boone feared that Milo had been right about this whole thing, that rescuing those troops was a suicide mission. 

Six dove behind one of the buildings. The troopers all ran for it, and Boone prayed they’d get away safely. She had her pistol out, shooting anything that came into view. 

Boone focused in.  _ Aim, Breath, Shoot. Aim, Breath, Shoot. _ The routine, the repetition, it had always been calming. It was easy to lose yourself to the chaos of a battle, but the repetition of that routine kept Boone focused and steady. Six needed him to be steady right now. 

There were so many of them and they just kept coming. Boone had lost sight of Six as she moved deeper into the camp, but he refused to let the worst-case-scenarios cloud his thinking right now. He kept shooting, only missing a shot once or twice. Some took two or three shots to go down, some only one. It didn’t matter. They were dead and that’s all Boone cared about. 

As quickly as it all started, it was over. The ranger and the sniper had run out of targets and the gunfire within the dilapidated town had stopped. Boone waited for Six to appear, holding his breath. He breathed out loudly when she did, rounding a corner with a triumphant look on her bloody face. She was holding an odd-looking machete and Boone was almost positive he didn’t want to know where she’d gotten it. 

“Looks like I was able to get those hostages out alive,” Six said smugly when Boone and Milo had met her, halfway between the ridge and the town. 

“I have to admit, I didn't think you could do it. Guess that makes me the sap and you the hero.” He looked pleased, and Boone was glad it had worked out. “I'm not authorized to pay for contract work, but here's something for the effort. And I'll make sure everyone hears about what you did. Thanks.”

Six nodded to Milo as he took his leave. She leaned up against the rock wall, catching her breath.

“Mercy killing is a last resort.” Boone sighed, pulling out his pack of cigarettes and offering her one. She took it with a nod. “Glad you recognized we had options.”

He wasn’t sure if he was talking about this or their earlier argument. He wasn’t sure if it mattered. 

Six just nodded, lighting their cigarettes and taking a long drag. Boone watched her blow the smoke out into the night sky, watched her look at the stars as she did it, blue eyes full of wonder and sadness. He registered the dull ache in his chest, and he couldn’t quite explain what it meant.

“Mercy killing is expected of NCR snipers. The Legion likes to torture their prisoners within sight of NCR positions.” He was surprised at the sound of his own voice. Six looked at him, listening. He was grateful for it,  _ grateful for her _ . “We get called on to end it. I've had my share. Some of them, you think, maybe you could've gotten them out. Maybe it's not the Legion that got them killed. Maybe it's your orders and you following them.”

Her free hand reached out for his and squeezed. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed back. The movement was so intimate, but it felt so natural. His skin burned where it touched hers.

“Carla… She… I tracked her down. Southeast, near the river. They were selling her. Saw it through my scope.” Boone didn’t know what he was doing. He couldn’t remember ever speaking this much without Six asking him a thousand questions. He couldn’t remember telling her so much without her asking first. “Whole place swarming with Legion. Hundreds of them. Bidding for things no man has a right to. I just had my rifle with me. Just me, against all of them, so… I took the shot.” 

He felt his voice break at the end, felt the tears begin to roll down his face. He couldn’t meet Six’s eyes. He couldn’t remember ever crying in front of her.

When her voice finally came, it was a bigger comfort than he realized it could be.

“Better for her to die than live a Legion slave,” Six sighed. He didn’t have to look at her to know she was crying too. He could hear it in her voice.

“Yeah. What they do to women… That's worse than death. There was no choice in what I did. It was more like being forced to watch something you can't stop. All this was only ever going to play out one way. It still is. I don't have any say. All I can do is wait for it to be done with me.”

“You make it sound like your wife's death was inevitable,” Six said, the question evident in her voice.

“It was gonna be something. If I'd never met Carla, it would've been something else. I should've never gotten close to her.” He pulled his hand away from Six’s to wipe the tears from his face. Without her hand, his felt empty. “I've got bad things coming to me. You'd better keep your distance, too.”

Six shook her head. “Why, Craig?” 

His heart ached even more at the sound of his name. “Because fair is fair.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Better that you don’t.” He’d never told Carla about Bitter Springs. He didn’t want to tell Six either. He didn’t want to see the way she’d look at him after knowing that about him.

He knew saying that would hurt her, but he convinced himself it was better that way.

She nodded. “I’m sorry. If I’d known… I never would have asked what I did.”

Boone shook his head. “Not your fault.”

“Still.”

His hand found hers again. “Six, if it comes to that, if there are no other options, I’ll take the shot.”

Her eyes, tear-filled and scared, met his. “Craig…”

“I promise.” He held her hand tightly. “But I’ll do everything I can to keep that from ever happening.”

Six was the closest thing to redemption he’d ever get. It was more than he deserved, he knew, but it was his chance to do some good before the Mojave claimed him. He’d protect her. He’d protect her because she represented the future, a future that he believed was good and clean and happy. He’d protect her because she represented everything he’d once believed in. 

He’d protect her because she was the only thing he had.


End file.
